P*«^K^J 


/-■>r.v  (^ 


LIBRARY    OF    THE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,    N.    J. 
PRESENTED    BY 


BX  6333  .H35  S5  1919 

Haldeman,  Isaac  Massey, 

184! 

-1933. 

The  signs  of  the  times 

_j 

The  Signs  of  the 
Times      /v 


^^ftlOFPB/^ 


/; 


OEC  3  0  1926 


BY 


I.   M.   HALDEMAN,   D.D. 

PASTOR  FIRST  BAPTIST  CHURCH 
NEW  YORK  CITY 


SEVENTH  EDITION 


PHILADELPHIA  SCHOOL  OF  THE  BIBLE 
1721-23  Spring  Garden  Street 
Philadelphia  Pa. 
•     1919 


PREFACE 

Five  of  the  articles  in  this  book,  '"Jericho  Theology," 
"The  New  Religion,"  "Thinking  Above  What  is 
Written,"  "The  Devil's  Righteousness,"  and  "Mental 
Assassination,"  have  been,  already,  published  and  cir- 
culated as  pamphlets.  The  remaining  numbers  are 
printed  for  the  first  time. 

Each  of  these  articles  was,  originally,  preached  as 
a  sermon  in  the  First  Baptist  Church.  They  have 
been  somewhat  changed.  The  language  in  which 
they  appear  was  used  in  preaching  them,  but  the 
sermon  form,  as  far  as  possible,  has  been  set  aside. 
The  prepositional  distinction,  the  homiletical  and 
constructive  necessities,  have  been  in  great  measure, 
kept  out  of  sight.  In  many  cases  the  narrative 
method,  the  descriptions  and  illustrations,  legitimate 
enough  for  the  living  voice,  and  suited  to  a  listening 
audience,  have  been  omitted.  This  is  notably  so  in 
the  "Parliament  of  Nations,"  which,  when  delivered 
as  a  sermon,  was  embellished  with  full  reference  to 
history  as  corroborative  evidence  of  the  truthfulness 
of  prophecy,  together  with  descriptions  of  cities, 
events  and  persons,  and  fuller  analysis  of  present  day 
movements. 

It  seemed  proper,  however,  to  omit  all  this  in  send- 
ing the  discourses  out  in  book  form. 

The  writer  is  convinced  that  the  "signs  of  the 
times"  call  for  a  reading  and  study  in  this  hour  as 
never  before.  Heaven,  and  earth,  and  hell — the  pro- 
fessing church,  the  nations  and.  now  and  then  the 
clanging  of  nature's  forces,  bid  us  realize  that  we 
are  on  the  threshold  where  the  shifting  of  events, 
at  any  moment,  may  usher  in  that  vast  and  solemn 
process,  whose  terminus  ad  quern  is  the  Coming  and 
Kingdom  of  the  Son  of  God. 

I.  M.  HALDEMAN. 

New  York,  November,  1910. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Signs  of  the  Times     ....  5 

The  Faith 33 

Progress  of  the  Devil's  Lie     ...  63 

Jericho  Theology 95 

The  New  Religion 123 

Thinking  Above  What  is  Written     .  150 

The  Devil's  Righteousness     ...  176 

Mental  Assassination 207 

Present    Day    Miracles     ....  244 

Socialism 275 

Emmanuelism 310 

The  Kingdom  of  Commerce  ....  341 

The  Scarlet  Woman 364 

The  Parliament  of  Nations     .      .      .  405 

The  Zionist  Movement      ....  428 


THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

"Ye  can  discern  the  face  of  the  sky ;  but  can 
ye  not  discern  the  signs  of  the  times  ?" — Mat- 
thew 16:3. 

Jesus  was  at  Magdala.  He  was  surrounded 
by  a  multitude.  They  were  clamoring  for 
some  signs  or  evidence  that  he  was  the  Christ, 
the  Messiah. 

He  said  to  them:  You  can  tell  by  certain 
conditions  in  the  sky  whether  it  is  going  to  be 
clear  or  stormy,  and  govern  yourselves  ac- 
cordingly. Now,  there  are  signs  in  the  times, 
conditions,  circumstances  and  events,  foretold 
in  your  Holy  Scriptures,  which  you  ought  to 
be  able  to  read  as  clearly  as  you  read  the  face 
of  the  sky. 

The  prophets  had  foretold  certain  things 
concerning  the  Christ  when  He  should  come. 
They  had  said  he  should  be  of  lowly  mien ;  that 
He  would  perform  many  healing  wonders; 
that  he  would  speak  in  parables ;  that  he  would 
be  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief;  that  he  would  not  come  with  outward 
beauty  nor  winsome  attraction ;  that  he  would 
ride  into  Jerusalem  on  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an 
ass;  that  he  would  come  in  at  a  definite  day 
and  date,  and  that  he  would  present  himself 
in  the  temple  as  their  king. 


5  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

All  these  things  had  happened,  were  hap 
pening,  and  were  about  to  happen.  The  Jews 
were  called  upon  to  be  witnesses  of  these  things 
and  read  them  aright.  They  ought  to  have 
seen  that  they  were  the  credentials  of  the 
Christ;  that  he  who  fulfilled  them  before  their 
very  eyes  was  none  other  than  Messiah  him- 
self. 

They  did  not  so  see.  They  did  not  read  the 
signs.  They  were  blind,  and  they  were  blind 
because  they  had  turned  away  from  the  book 
that  recorded  them,  and  had  listened  and  were 
listening  at  that  very  moment  to  the  traditions 
of  men  rather  than  to  the  Word  of  God.  They 
missed  their  ordained  opportunity  and,  for  two 
thousand  years,  have  paid  the  penalty  in  an 
agony  and  tragedy  'that  are  terrible  to  contem- 
plate. There  are  signs  for  these  days  just  as 
plainly  foretold  in  Holy  Writ,  as  were  the 
signs  of  those  days. 

They  have  been  foretold  by  the  Son  of  God 
himself  and  all  his  holy  apostles.  They  are 
written  in  the  Scriptures ;  and  yet,  the  church, 
as  a  whole,  fails  to  read  or  note  them,  is  ut- 
terly blind  to  them,  and  all  the  out-reach  of 
their  tremendous  meaning. 

It  has  been  foretold  in  Scripture  that  a  time 
would  come  during  the  absence  of  the  Lord 
when,  in  spite  of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
and  the  work  of  the  church,  the  whole  world 
would  prepare  for  war,  and  prepare  on  such 
a  scale  as  had  never  been  dreamed  before. 


THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES  7 

« 

Nation  should  rise  against  nation^"there  should 
be  wars  and  continual  rumors  of  wars.  The 
Apostle  John,  giving  the  last  stroke  in  the  pic- 
ture, testifies  that  the  spirit  of  war  should  go 
forth,  pervade  the  whole  earth,  assembling 
the  nations  together,  and  inspiring  them  to 
prepare  themselves  as  for  a  last  and  desperate 
struggle. 

This  prophecy  is  being  fulfilled  to-day. 

Never  since  the  world  began  has  there  been 
such  a  spectacle— 'the  whole  world  under  arms. 
Wherever  there  is  a  nation  worthy  to  be  called 
such,  that  nation  is  making  enormous  efforts 
to  equip  itself  for  the  emergency  of  war.  Eng- 
land, so  long  content  to  have  a  great  navy  and 
a  small  volunteer  army,  is  now  making  a  su- 
preme effort  to  raise  that  army  to  an  effective 
standard  of  500,000  men.  France  is  ready  to 
respond  in  forty-eight  hours  with  500,000  sol- 
diers, mobilized  and  fully  equipped.  Germany 
has  under  arms  and  ready  to  march  at  a  mo- 
ment's notice,  500,000,  constituting  the  most 
perfect  fighting  machine  ever  put  together. 
Spain  has  100,000  veterans  with  the  memory 
of  Cuba  in  their  hearts.  Italy  has  ready  near- 
ly another  half  million.  Austria  a  full  half 
million,  trained,  disciplined  and  magnificently 
furnished.  Russia  has  a  million  men  under 
arms — not  merely  reserves — she  has  these  be- 
sides— but  a  million  of  men  in  barrack  and 
camp,  ready  to  fight,  as  never  before.  Japan 
has  more  than  half  a  million,  practically  in  the 


8  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

field,  and  a  full  million  of  equally  disciplined 
reserves  behind  them,  soldiers  whose  desperate 
bravery  electrified  and,  almost,  appalled  the 
world.  China  is  moving  everything  that  she 
may  possess  an  army  of  500,000  soldiers  equal 
to  the  most  modern  demands,  and,  already, 
has  an  artillery  among  the  best.  As  you  come 
westward  and  sweep  the  circle  of  the  old  con- 
tinents again,  you  find  Persia,  the  Persia 
that  Rome  never  conquered,  ready  to 
take  the  field  with  troops  furnished  from 
western  arsenals  and  instructed  by  offi- 
cers from  western  armies.  You  will  find 
Turkey  with  500,000  men ;  and  it  is  of 
tradition  that,  when  soldiers  fight  well,  it  is 
said  of  them,  no  matter  what  nation  they  may 
be,  they  fight  "like  Turks."  Greece  has  an 
army;  the  Balkans — the  political  lumber-room 
of  Europe — more  or  less  filled  with  smoking 
firebrands — is  crowded  with  soldiers ;  while 
Switzerland  is  a  nation  of  soldiers  ready  to 
spring  from  their  Alpine  heights  at  the  first 
sound  of  war.  Every  spring-time  and  summer 
these  nations  send  out  their  armies  to  "ma- 
noeuvre," to  fight  imaginary  battles,  carry  on 
imaginary  campaigns,  and  always  as  their  im- 
aginary foe,  their  nearest  neighbor.  Vast  fac- 
tories are  built  for  the  making  of  guns  and 
powder,  and  great  arsenals  for  the  storing  of 
war  material.  Germany  has  one  fortress  in 
which  she  has  deposited  under  steel  locks  and 
bars,  guarding  it  night  and  day,  vast  sums  in 


THE   SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES  9 

gold  as  the  sinews  of  war ;  so  that,  in  the  event 
of  hostilities,  she  may  be  ready  to  meet  every 
demand.  So  complete  is  the  preparation  for 
war  throughout  the  world  that  the  number  and 
location  of  every  horse  fit  for  mihtary  duty 
are  known,  every  strategic  route  in  the  possible 
enemy's  country  is  marked  out  and  mapped, 
every  secret  road  and  path  described,  while  the 
nations  themselves  swarm  with  one  another's 
spies,  noting  the  means  of  defence  and  the 
easiest  points  of  attack.  Added  to  all  this,  the 
armies  are  no  longer  mercenary  contingents, 
hired  as  the  Persians  once  hired  the  Greeks,  or 
England  once  hired  the  Hessians ;  not  armies 
made  up  of  men  who  followed  it  as  a  trade 
and  were  open  to  the  highest  bidder;  the  na- 
tions themselves  form  the  armies ;  every  man 
capable  of  bearing  arms  is  enrolled.  In  France 
not  even  the  widow's  son  is  spared,  and  those 
who  by  reason  of  some  physical  defection  can- 
not go  to  the  field  are  called  to  occupy  posts  as 
clerks,  as  telegraph  operators,  or  any  other 
position  that  would  otherwise  demand  the 
presence  of  an  effective  soldier. 

Not  only  is  the  armament  on  land ;  it  is  on 
the  sea. 

Ten  years  ago  England  had  300  war  ships 
and  was  easily  the  mistress  of  the  sea.  In  an 
unwise  moment  she  determined  to  outdo  all 
other  nations  by  constructing  vessels  of  the 
Dreadnaught  type.  The  moment  she  did  this 
she  declassed  her  other  ships  and  threw  her- 


10  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

self  back  in  the  race  for  supremacy.  Germany 
seized  tiie  opportune  moment  and  began  con- 
structing ships  of  equal  tonnage,  and  to-day 
can  build  them  as  well  and  rapidly  as  England 
herself;  so  well,  in  fact,  that  the  number  of 
them  falls  like  a  darkling  shadow  across  the 
waters  of  the  North  Sea;  and  it  is  now  no 
longer  a  question  whether  Great  Britain  can 
have  a  navy  equal  in  range  and  power  to  any 
other  two  nations,  but  whether  she  can  have 
a  navy  equal  to  one  power,  and  that  one  Ger- 
many herself. 

France  is  awakening  from  her  sleep  of  self- 
glorification  to  the  fact  of  her  actual  maritime 
weakness,  and  is  laying  plans  for  construction 
by  which  she  hopes  to  overtake  her  German 
rival.  And  now  the  news  comes  that  Austria, 
never  a  sea  power  and  with  practically  no  sea- 
coast  at  all,  has  given  a  contract  for  the  build- 
ing of  seven  Dreadnaughts  of  the  super  type, 
together  with  torpedo  boats,  torpedo  boat  de- 
stroyers and  submarines.  Spain  has  commis- 
sioned England  to  build  her  an  up-to-date 
navy.  Russia,  profiting  by  her  disastrous  war 
with  Japan,  is  launching  a  fleet  that  will  be 
equal  in  power  to  the  best  navies  of  the  world ; 
while  Japan,  night  and  day  is  seeking  to  jus- 
tify the  prestige  of  her  war  with  Russia,  and 
anticipating  a  possible  contest  with  the  United 
States  for  the  control  of  the  Pacific,  is  unceas- 
ingly pushing  forward  the  work  of  building 
a  navy  that  shall  surpass  even  that  with  which 


•The  signs  of  the  times  1 1 

Togo    astonished    the    nations    of    the    earth. 

The  necessity  for  a  navy  has  invaded  our 
own  land.  No  matter  how  much  political  job- 
bery on  the  one  side,  and  the  inexcusable  ig- 
norance or  indifference  of  Congress  on  the 
other,  may  retard  it ;  no  matter  how  much  the 
worse  than  foolish  talk  of  the  peace  advocates 
may  hold  back  the  appropriations  for  the  work, 
this  country,  by  the  inexorable  logic  of  her 
position  as  z  world  power  (and  under  bonds 
to  control  the  Panama  Canal  in  the  interest  of 
peace)  is  forced  to  have,  and  will  have,  a  bat- 
tle-ship navy  second  to  none  in  the  world.  The 
nations  of  South  America  are  seeking  with  fe- 
verish haste,  each  one  of  them,  to  build  navies 
that  are  to  be  reckoned  with,  Brazil  having 
just  given  orders  to  construct  the  largest 
Dreadnaught  afloat. 

And  thus  the  armament  and  preparation  for 
war  is  going  on. 

Steadily,  the  amount  of  money  expended 
upon  this  preparation  is  increasing,  until  three- 
fourths  of  all  the  incomes  of  the  nations  will 
soon  be  spent. 

One  of  the  startling  things  about  it  all  is, 
that  this  state  of  affairs  comes  in  after  two 
thousand  years  of  Gospel  preaching,  two  thou- 
sand years  of  human  progress,  and  in  the  cen- 
tury of,  so-called,  highest  civilization.  It  is  an 
amazing  fact  that  after  two  thousand  years  of 
the  most  representative  civilization  and  culture 
th?  world  has  ever  known,  human  governments 


\2  THE   SIGNS   Of   THE   TIMES 

i 

have  no  better  way  of  deciding  a  difference 
than  by  withdrawing  to  the  battle-field,  there 
to  blow  out  each  other's  brains,  to  kill,  murder, 
burn  and  destroy,  perhaps,  all  that  it  has  taken 
a  century  to  upbuild  and  perfect.  The  start- 
ling thing  is,  that  the  the  nations  that  are  fore- 
most in  this  preparation  for  bloody  war  are 
the,  so-called,  "Christian  nations"  of  the  earth. 

The  preparation  for  war,  then,  is  one  of  the 
signs  of  the  times  which  the  church  is  specially 
called  upon  to  note  and  read. 

It  has  been  foretold  that  during  the  absence 
of  the  Lord  there  would  be  enormous  political 
changes  within  the  countries  occupying  the 
territorial  limits  once  possessed  by  the  em- 
pire of  Rome;  and  that  these  changes  would 
cause  the  overthrow  of  absolutism  in  govern- 
ment, bring  about  the  uprise  of  a  red  democ- 
racy, and  the  final  federation  of  Western  Eu- 
rope and  a  part  of  Asia  under  a  common  ruler. 

For  the  last  hundred  years  all  the  marked 
political  changes,  constitutional  and  otherwise, 
have  taken  place  in  these  states  of  Europe  and 
Asia  which  once  belonged  to  the  Roman  Em- 
pire. All  the  conflict  has  been  on  the  lines  of 
the  old  Roman  Vallum,  and  the  effort,  con- 
scious or  unconscious,  has  been  to  restore  the 
outlines  of  the  ancient  empire.  Monarchy  has 
been  limited,  kings  have  been  held  in  leash,  the 
people  have  been  enfranchised,  democracy  is 
the  ruling  power,  and  a  democracy  whose  flag 
and  symbol  is  becoming  more  and  more  each 


THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES  13 

day,  the  red  flag,  the  symbol  and  sign  of  so- 
cialism and  the  rule  of  man. 

These  changes  and  the  increase  of  the  war 
preparation,  raise  the  question  as  to  what  will 
happen  should  these  things  continue.  The 
prime  minister  of  England  has  said  that  the 
situation  is  intensely  grave.  He  says  history 
shows  that  peace  can  be  finally  and  success- 
fully maintained  only  when  there  is  one  su- 
preme ruling  power  or  nation;  that  we  now 
have  eight  world-powers,  each  struggling,  in 
one  way  or  another,  to  be  supreme  and  each 
ready,  at  a  moment's  notice,  to  fight  the  other. 
Either,  he  says,  there  must  be  general  war  and 
destruction,  or  there  must  be  a  federation  of 
all  these  governments  under  one  common  head. 
As  such  a  federation  of  the  powers  of  Europe 
and  Asia  would  be  the  constituting  of  a  unit 
of  government  within  the  lines  of  the  old  Ro- 
man Empire,  the  premier  of  England  is,  un- 
consciously, echoing  the  far-reaching  prophecy 
of  God's  Word,  which  has  declared  that  such 
a  federation  is  coming.  The  recent  sugges- 
tion (and  made  seriously)  that  the  German 
Emperor  should  be  elected  head  of  ten  allied 
world-powers  as  a  general  arbiter  to  keep  the 
peace,  is  the  corroborative  shadow  of  coming 
events  and  anticipative  of  that  prophecy  which 
declares  that  this  revived  and  federated  Ro- 
man Empire  will  be  divided  among  ten  allied 
kings  or  powers,  who  shall  elect  over  them- 
selves a  supreme  head  as  an  agreed-upon  ar- 
biter. 


14  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

It  has  been  foretold  that  during  the  ab- 
sence of  the  Christ,  the  church  would  repudiate 
sound  doctrine;  that  teachers  would  be  ex- 
aJted  in  the  church  who  would  deny  the  faith 
once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints,  and  turn 
the  people  away  from  the  truth. 

That  time  is  upon  us  now. 

Men  stand  in  our  pulpits  who  deny  every  fun- 
damental doctrine.  Every  day  three  hundred 
thousand  students  in  our  colleges  and  institu- 
tions of  learning  are  taught  the  unsacredness 
of  sacred  things.  A  leading  professor  in  a 
college  who  is  still  a  professed  minister  of 
Christ,  scouts  the  idea  that  God  wrote  the  law 
on  tables  of  stone  and,  with  an  attempt  at  wit- 
ticism, declared  that  God  never  was  a  stone- 
mason at  all.  In  our  theological  colleges  min- 
isters of  Christ  deny  the  virgin  birth,  the  sac- 
rificial death  of  the  cross,  while  the  doctrine 
of  the  literal  resurrection  of  the  body  is 
laughed  out  of  court. 

To-day  there  is  a  noisy,  if  not  a  strong,  body 
of  men  in  the  church  who,  in  the  name  of  ad- 
vanced scholarship,  are  seeking  to  set  the 
church  with  its  back  to  the  hereafter,  to  every- 
thing supernatural,  and  to  make  it  a  merely 
social,  ethical  and  time  factor. 

Side  by  side  with  this  doctrinal  down-grade, 
it  was  foretold  that  the  church,  professed 
Christians,  should  be  "lovers  of  pleasures  more 
than  lovers  of  God,"  and  that  they  should 
have  "a  form  of  godliness,  but  denying  the 
power  thereof." 


THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES  15 

The  prophecy  finds  its  realization  in  the  fact 
that  places  of  public  amusement  obtain  their 
support  largely,  if  not  mainly,  from  professed 
Christians;  so  largely,  indeed,  that  when  the 
"Lenten"  season  comes  round,  these  places 
are  forced,  during  the  forty  days  in  which  such 
Christians  suspend  their  campaign  of  world- 
liness,  to  cater  to  them,  in  some  instances,  by 
substituting  for  the  theatrical  or  operatic  per- 
formance, lectures,  readings  or  plays  that  have 
in  them  some  fancied  approach  to  Christian 
maxims  and  principles.  Indeed,  were  it  not 
for  the  Christian  public,  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  the  amusement  season  could  be  main- 
tained at  all,  the  richest  and  most  liberal  pa- 
trons being  oftentimes  the  leading  supporters 
of  the  church.  In  exact  proportion  as  spirit- 
uality declines,  ritualism  increases.  What  the 
church  lacks  in  power  it  makes  up  in  form; 
and  of  many  Christians  and  churches  concern- 
ing their  attitude  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  is 
the  alone  power  of  religion,  it  might  not  be 
inaptly  said,  as  it  is  written  of  certain  pro- 
fessed Christians  in  the  days  of  the  apostles, 
that  they  "have  not  so  much  as  heard  whether 
there  be  any  Holy  Ghost." 

The  doctrinal  and  spiritual  departure  of  the 
church,  therefore,  is  a  sign  of  the  times,  ful- 
filled and  fulfilling. 

It  was  foretold  that  during  the  absence  of 
the  Lord  and,  especially,  as  the  Christian  age 
should  draw  to  its  close,  many  false  teachers 


16  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

would  come  in  the  name  of  Christ,  in  his  name 
do  wonderful  works,  and  deceive  many. 

Christian  Science  is  one  of  them. 

Christian  Science  is  one  of  the  most  subtle 
and  disastrous  deceptions  that  ever  entered 
the  world.  It  comes  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
quotes  the  Bible,  and  seems  to  hold  every  doc- 
trine of  the  Christian  faith.  It  seems  to  do  so, 
but,  upon  examination  it  will  be  found,  instead, 
to  deny  every  fundamental  doctrine. 

It  denies  the  personality  of  God.  It  denies 
that  Jesus  was  the  Christ.  It  denies  that  he 
died  for  the  salvation  of  men.  It  denies  that 
His  blood,  when  shed  upon  the  cross,  was  of 
any  more  value  than  when  flowing  in  his  veins 
in  daily  life,  and  thus,  it  denies  the  scriptural 
doctrine  that,  "without  shedding  of  blood  there 
is  no  remission."  It  denies  that  any  one  is 
lost,  or  that  any  one  needs  to  be  saved  outside 
of  the  saving  principle  inherent  in  each  in- 
dividual life.  It  denies  the  existence  of  sin ; 
no  one  has  ever  committed  sin ;  no  one  com- 
mits it  to-day;  no  one  will  ever  commit  it. 
There  is  no  need  of  repentance  for  sin ;  no 
need  of  looking  back  and  being  sorry.  Sin 
does  not  exist  and  never  has  existed.  There 
is  nothing  therefore  of  which  to  repent.  All 
that  is  required  is  to  recognize  the  non-exist- 
ence of  sin,  and  he  who,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world  and  before  every  court  of  justice  has 
been  declared  a  sinner  and  a  criminal,  is  in- 
stantly free,  standing  in  his  original  and  un- 
changed holiness. 


THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES  17 

Christian  Science  denies  the  fact  of  death. 
No  one  ever  died.  The  grave  does  not  contain 
a  single  corrupting  corpse.  The  concept  of 
death  is  the  delusion  of  false  and  mortal  mind. 
There  is  no  death,  for  there  is  no  sickness. 
Disease,  sickness,  pain  and  death  are  imag- 
inary, they  (exist?)  only  in  the  false  and  un- 
real mind  of  man.  Repudiate  them,  deny 
them ;  they  do  not  exist.  He  who  has  tuber- 
culosis, or  typhoid  fever,  or  an  inward  cancer, 
need  call  in  no  physician;  let  him  recognize 
that  sickness,  like  sin,  is  a  lie,  and  he  shall  be 
delivered  and  be  wholly  well.  Sin,  sickness 
and  death,  do  not  exist  because  there  is  no 
matter.  Nothing  we  see  is  real.  The  tree,  the 
flower,  the  mountain,  the  sea,  the  round  earth, 
the  whole  wide  universe,  these  are  the  mere 
creations  of  the  mind,  and  no  more  real  and 
existent,  than  our  own  deluded  thoughts.  Our 
very  body  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  ■  The  way 
to  largest  and  fullest  life  is  to  recognize  that 
these  so-called  bodies  do  not  exist  at  all.  We 
are  all  spirit,  spirit  is  God,  God  is  not  an 
eternal  person,  but  an  eternal  principle  of  good. 
We  are  all  good  because  we  are  all  spirit  and 
are  equal  to  God.  We  have  existed  as  such 
from  the  beginning.  None  of  us  has  ever  been 
born.  No  woman  ever  gave  birth  to  a  child 
and  no  man  has  the  right  to  be  called  a  father ; 
what  is  called  material  existence  is  no  more 
real  than  imagined  sin,  sickness,  pain  and 
death.     There  is  no  personal  God,  and  there 


18  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

is  no  personal  Christ.  Christ  is  simply  a  spir- 
itual idea.  Christian  Science  is  that  idea,  and 
Christian  Science  is  the  Coming  of  Christ. 
Christ  will  never  come  a  second  time  in  out- 
ward and  personal  glory  as  this  same  Jesus 
who  was  taken  up  into  heaven,  and  declared 
so  to  be  by  the  angels.  Jesus  was  an  idea, 
merged  at  last  into  the  principle  of  Christ. 
Jesus  has  ceased  to  exist;  He  never  was  real 
except  to  the  hallucination  of  the  error-smitten 
disciples.  The  only  Coming  of  Christ  that 
the  world  will  know  about  is  the  coming  of 
Christian  Science.  Christian  Science  denies 
the  infallibility  of  the  Bible.  The  Bible,  Chris- 
tian Science  says,  is  full  of  error,  full  of  fables 
and  myths,  and  written  by  men  under  the  dark 
error  that  matter  exists.  Christian  Science, 
in  short,  denies,  not  only  the  Bible  as  the  fully 
inspired  Word  of  God;  it  denies  the  Father 
and  the  Son  and  thus  fulfills  the  inspired  por- 
trait of  the  Antichrist,  as  it  is  written : 

"Who  is  a  liar,  but  he  that  denieth  that 
Jesus  is  the  Christ.  He  is  antichrist,  that  de- 
nieth the  Father  and  the  Son." — John  2 :22. 

Christian  Science  is  the  shadow  of  the  Anti- 
christ, his  forerunner  and  herald,  and  is,  in 
principle,  that  science  of  which  the  Apostle 
speaks  when  he  says:  "Science  falsely  so 
called."—!  Timothy  6 :20. 

Here  is  a  false  teacher  coming  in  the  name 
of  Christ,  and  with  such  power  that,  if  it 
were  possible,  it  might  deceive  the  very  elect. 


THF.   SIGNS  OF   THE  TIMES  19 

Another  false  teacher  coming  in  the  name 
of  Christ,  using  his  very  name  and  title  is, 

Emmanuelism. 

Emmanuelism  is  an  effort  to  lead  Christian 
ministers  into  the  formation  of  a  clerical  clinic. 
It  is  an  effort  to  turn  the  ambassadors  of 
Christ  into  a  band  of  hypnotists.  It  is  a  move- 
ment which,  in  its  final  analysis,  means  the  re- 
pudiation of  the  Bible  as  a  book  fully  inspired 
of  God.  Emmanuelism  does  not  believe  in  the 
infallibility  of  the  Bible.  It  believes  that  much 
of  it  was  written  by  men  who  were  governed 
by  the  error  and  fables  of  the  time.  It  denies 
that  there  are  such  things  as  demons  or  un- 
clean spirits,  or  that  Christ  ever  cast  them  out. 
It  accepts  the  fact  that  it  is  so  recorded,  and 
that  Christ  himself  taught  that  He  cast  them 
out,  but  in  view  of  this  it  leaves  us  the  choice 
of  one  of  two  propositions :  either  Christ  him- 
self was  ignorant  of  the  truth  and  imposed 
upon  by  the  credulity  of  the  hour;  or,  the 
record  is  the  exaggerated  and  idealized  con- 
cept of  enthusiastic  disciples  who,  themselves, 
were  carried  away  by  their  own  superstition, 
and  who  blindly  imagined  in  Jesus  the  super- 
naturalism  they  continually  sought. 

Emmanuelism  would  find  in  a  man,  not  only 
all  the  resources  of  physical,  but  spiritual 
health.  It  is  an  attempt  to  turn  man  in  upon 
himself,  and  by  awakening  his  sub-conscious 
mind,  or  by  allowing  it  to  free  itself  from  the 
imposition  of  the  surface  mind,  assert  itself 


20  THE  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

in  its  native  purity  and  health,  thus  teaching 
man  that  his  salvation  lies  wholly  within  him- 
self. 

Emmanuelism  is  a  subtle  handmaid  of 
Christian  Science,  even  though  it  be  at  pains 
to  deny  it,  and,  like  Christian  Science,  be- 
cause it  professes  bodily  cures,  appeals  to 
those  who  are  more  ready,  always,  to  walk  by 
sight  than  faith,  by  natural  feeling  rather 
than  the  quickening  of  the  Spirit. 

A  sign  of  the  times  is  Emmanuelism — a 
sign  that  the  Devil  is  at  work,  as  foretold,  not 
with  hoofs  and  horns,  but  as  an  angel  of  light ; 
a  sign  that  the  time  of  the  end  is  at  hand  when 
the  air  will  be  filled  with  "new"  thought,  and 
deeds  shall  be  done  that  shall  lead  away  and 
deceive  the  "many." 

It  has  been  foretold  that,  preceding  the  sec- 
ond advent  of  Christ,  there  should  arise  a  pe- 
culiar and  special  class  distinctively  called 
"rich  men" ;  that  these  would  accumulate 
wealth  in  their  hands  to  such  a  degree  that  the 
great  laboring  class  would  rise  in  bitterness 
against  them. 

The  sign  is  here ! 

Where  once  a  millionaire  was  an  object  of 
curiosity  by  reason  of  his  exception,  now  mil- 
lionaires may  be  counted  by  the  thousands  in 
this  country,  and  the  multi-millionaire  is  a 
common  fact.  So  immensely  has  wealth  been 
gathered  into  the  hands  of  the  comparatively 
few,  that  the  lands  and  resources  of  the  nation 


The  signs  of  the  times  21 

are  practically  at  their  mercy.  They  form 
themselves  into  trusts  and  syndicates.  They 
control  the  business  and  commerce  of  the 
world.  They  establish  the  schedule  of  prices. 
They  mould  legislation  and  are  behind  the 
courts  of  justice.  Each  day  they  are  threaten- 
ing, not  only  the  privileges  of  individual  men, 
but  the  righteousness  and  the  integrity  of  the 
earth.  Grasping  after  more,  never  content, 
and  determined  to  rule,  their  wealth  is  a  min- 
ister to  corruption,  an  inspiration  to  official 
dishonesty,  and  a  menace  to  the  peace  and 
comfort  of  society. 

The  Word  of  God  tells  us  that  in  response 
to  this  condition  of  congested  wealth  and  the 
power  it  makes  and  accumulates  for  itself, 
there  would  be  the  deep  unrest  and  turbulent 
uprising  of  the  people.  The  Apostle  James 
tells  us  in  language  that  might  well  have  been 
v/ritten  to-day,  that  this  exaltation  of  the  capi- 
talist and  the  bitterness  of  the  laborer  will 
eventuate  in  wild  commotion,  in  the  clash  of 
class  and  mass,  and  in  the  destruction  and  mis- 
cry  of  those  who  shall  have  gathered  gain  and 
are  called  "the  rich." 

He  says: 

"Go  to  now,  ye  rich  men,  weep  and  howl 
for  your  miseries  that  shall  come  upon  you. 

"Your  riches  are  corrupted,  and  your  gar- 
ments are  moth  eaten. 

"Your  gold  and  silver  are  cankered ;  and  the 
rust  of  them  shall  be  a  witness  against  you. 


22  THE   SIGNS  OF   THE  TIMES 

and  shall  eat  your  flesh  as  it  were  fire.  Ye 
have  heaped  treasure  together  for  the  last 
days.  *  *  *  Ye  have  lived  in  pleasure  on 
the  earth,  and  been  wanton  [wanton  in  the 
display  of  luxury,  while  multitudes  starved]  : 
ye  have  nourished  your  hearts  as  in  a  day  of 
slaughter." — James  5  :l-3,  5. 

The  Word  of  God  foretells  that  the  people 
will  break  loose  like  the  raging  waves  of  the 
sea ;  breaking  over  old  landmarks  and  rising 
in  their  strength,  carrying  everywhere  disaster 
and  dismay,  they  will  seek  to  overturn  and 
destroy  all  established  things. 

Surely  that  movement  is  here. 

To-day  there  are  between  thirty  and  forty 
millions  of  socialists,  who  are  determined,  in 
final  consent,  to  break  down,  in  one  fashion  or 
another,  the  present  order  of  society.  They 
look  upon  property  as  a  crime  and  the  landed 
proprietor  as  a  robber.  They  consider  the  man 
of  wealth  as,  in  the  French  Revolution  the 
mob  looked  upon  the  titled  lord  with  his  wide 
domain  and  privileges  of  birth,  a  tyrant,  an 
usurper,  an  excrescence,  and  an  imposition  no 
longer  to  be  tolerated. 

Socialists  constitute  an  all-embracing  broth- 
erhood. They  repudiate  the  idea  of  nation- 
ality and  patriotism.  Nationality  to  them  is 
simply  the  agency  and  instrumentality  for  the 
few,  the  subsidized  implement  of  wealth,  the 
bludgeon  with  which  the  individual  is  to  be 
smitten  '"o  the  ground  that  the  few  may  con- 


THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES  23 

tinue  to  lord  it  over  him.  The  army,  to  them, 
is  simply  the  ultimate  instrument  by  which  the 
rich  few  maintain  their  tyranny  over  the  many. 
In  making  appeals  to  patriotism  and  love  of 
country,  they  seek  to  hoodwink  the  crowd, 
ready  to  turn  thousands  of  their  common  kind 
into  food  for  powder  that  they  may  themselves 
remain  secure  and  keep  their  usurped  power. 

So  tremendous  has  been  this  propaganda 
against  nationality  and  patriotism,  so  wide- 
spread has  the  poison  been  distilled  into  the 
souls  of  men  in  the  various  armies,  that  it  is 
to-day  a  serious  question  whether  thousands 
would  not,  on  the  eve  of  battle,  throw  down 
their  arms,  rather  than  fight  each  other;  or, 
united  as  brothers  in  a  common  cause,  turn 
upon  their  respective  chiefs. 

Socialism  is  a  flood  tide  rising  steadily  and 
invading  every  walk  of  life,  and  each  breeze 
that  sweeps  across  the  earth  carries  with  it  the 
ominous  roaring  of  the  rising  tide. 

Another  .sign  has  the  Word  of  God  set  be- 
fore men  and  bade  them  read.  That  sign  is 
the  foretold  revival  of  the  Roman  Church. 

In  the  vision  of  the  scarlet-clad  woman,  car- 
ried by  the  ten-horned  beast  of  Revelation, 
God  has  symbolically  announced  that  this 
church  should  again  ascend  to  temporal  as 
well  as  ecclesiastical  power. 

That  revival  is  already  patent. 

It  ought  to  be  tremendously  manifest  to  the 
most  casual  observer.     It  is  numerically  the 


24  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

largest  and  strongest  religious  body  in  this 
country.  Out  of  the  thirty-four  or  thirty-five 
millions  of  enrolled  church  members,  fully 
one-half,  if  not  more,  are  to  be  found  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  the  number  is  in- 
creasing every  day.  The  percentage  of  its  in- 
crease is  more  rapid  than  that  of  the  nation 
itself;  and  the  advance  in  every  direction  of 
authority  and  power  is  phenomenal. 

While  Protestantism  is  broken  up  into  all 
sorts  of  sects,  and  fragments  of  sects,  filled 
with  the  spirit  of  unbelief,  of  rationalism,  of 
scientific  antagonism  and  downright  infidel- 
ity, the  Roman  Church  is  a  unit  in  doctrine 
and  practice. 

To-day  if  men  seek  for  intellectual  and  spir- 
itual rest,  they  cannot  find  it  in  the  Protestant 
Church.  There,  every  man  has  a  psalm,  every 
man  has  a  doctrine,  and  the  only  thing  sure 
in  the  leaders  of  the  sects,  the  only  thing  about 
which  they  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  is,  that 
the  leader  of  the  other  sect  is  wrong. 

What  is  taught  to-day  in  a  Catholic  Church 
in  Rome,  is  taught  in  a  Catholic  Church  in 
London,  Paris,  New  York,  and  the  islands  of 
the  sea.  It  is  a  universal  church  with  a  unit 
of  creed  and  faith,  and  offers  to  the  man  who 
wants  a  settled  religious  belief,  a  solidarity  of 
doctrine,  and  an  imperial  assertion  of  authority 
to  be  found  nowhere  else.  Its  unbroken  his- 
toricy,  its  splendid  ritual,  its  wealth,  and  the 
genius  which  guides  it,  enables  it  more  and 


THE   SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES  25 

more  to  appeal  to  the  multitudes,  and  that,  in 
exact  proportion  as  Protestantism  continues 
its  self-division  and  daily  surrender. 

There  is  another  sign  of  the  times. 

That  marked  and  distinctive  sign  is, 

The  revival  of  Judaism. 

The  Word  of  God  has  foretold  that  the 
spirit  of  nationality  in  Israel  so  long  dormant, 
would  awaken  and  revive;  that  with  it  there 
would  be  a  widespread  movement  to  return  to 
Palestine;  that  there  would  be  a  turning  of 
the  face  towards  Zion,  as  it  is  written : 

"They  shall  ask  their  way  to  Zion  with  their 
faces  thitherward." — Jeremiah  50:5. 

That  movement  has  begun. 

It  has  taken  the  name  of  the  "Zionist  Move- 
ment," it  is  called  "Zionism."  All  over  the 
earth  Zionist  societies  have  been  formed,  bodies 
have  been  legally  incorporated,  and  vast  sums 
of  money  subscribed.  Children  are  being 
taught  that  the  day  of  Israel  is  at  hand,  and 
are  speeding  the  ancient  word,  "Zion,"  from 
lip  to  lip. 

It  would  take  a  volume  to  tell  all  that  the 
sons  of  Judah  have  done  in  the  last  hundred 
years,  to  record  the  advance  they  have  made  as 
factors  in  the  history  of  the  world.  To  give 
the  names  of  those  who  stand  forth  as  the 
representatives  of  human  genius  and  the  prog- 
ress of  civilization;  who  are  the  masters  in 
art,  in  literature,  and  science ;  who  are  the 
composers  of  the  world's  oratorios,  the  com- 


26  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

posers  of  our  music,  the  authors  of  drama  and 
the  representatives  of  histrionic  ability,  the 
occupants  of  the  leading  professorial  chairs 
in  the  leading  universities ;  in  short,  the  lead- 
ing scholars  of  the  world  and  those  who  thirst 
for  knowledge  and  seek  it  at  any  cost  and, 
at  the  same  time,  to  attempt  to  give  the  names 
of  those  who  are  factors  in  business  and  con- 
trollers in  finance,  would  be  to  give  an  in- 
terminable list  of  names,  and  every  name — 
that  of  a  Jew.  They  are  to-day  universal  fac- 
tors in  a  world  where  society  each  hour  be- 
comes more  complex ;  and  this,  all  this,  a  wit- 
ness of  the  immense  and  immeasurable  vital- 
ity of  the  Jew ;  it  is  this  vitality  that  is  behind 
the  movement  that  is  called  Zionism. 

Already  thousands  of  the  medium  class  have 
returned  to  the  land  of  their  fathers.  The 
land,  as  foretold  by  Jeremiah,  is  being  bought 
and  sold  at  the  very  gates  of  Jerusalem.  The 
Jew  is  already  the  pre-eminent  factor  in  the 
once  holy  city.  He  controls  its  business  and 
is  the  present  guaranty  of  its  prosperity.  His 
synagogues  are  rising  within  the  shadow  of 
the  Mahommedan  mosques.  His  lamenta- 
tions for  the  city  of  the  ancient  splendors,  and 
his  prayer  for  the  restoration  of  the  former 
glory,  and  the  swift  descent  of  an  avenging 
Messiah,  resound  every  Friday  beneath  the 
moss  covered  stones  of  Solomon's  wall,  where 
thousands  turn  their  faces  and  weep  as  they 
"ontemplate  the  past,  reciting  the  penitential 


THE    SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES  Z7 

psalms,  and  whose  same  tear-wet  faces  shine 
as  they  sing  of  the  day  when  Zion  shall  be  as 
a  garden  planted  of  the  Lord,  and  when  the 
holy  hill  of  the  great  solemnities  shall  be  the 
place  for  the  soles  of  the  feet  of  him  who  is 
their  promised  king. 

The  Turkish  government  has  taken  ofif  the 
ban,  and  now  invites  the  Jew  to  become  a  par- 
ticipant citizen  in  the  covenant  land. 

The  people  are  returning  according  to  the 
prophetic  Word  that  (and  they  do  not  know 
it,  they  would  not  believe  it  though  an  ange! 
from  heaven  told  them)  they  are  returning 
there  that  they  may  endure  the  last  and  mosl 
terrible  persecution  of  their  race,  and  then 
(and  this  is  their  hope)  that  they  may  greet 
Messiah  himself  when  he  comes,  meeting  him 
as  they  will  with  the  cry,  "Lo,  this  is  our  God ; 
we  have  waited  for  Him."  Isaiah  25:9;  but, 
in  that  very  cry  repudiating  the  Gospel  which 
they  have  disdained  to  hear  through  all  the 
ages;  saying,  "Lo  this  is  our  God,"  meaning 
thereby  that  this  is  the  Messiah  for  whom 
they  always  have  been  waiting,  not  the  cruci- 
fied Messiah  oflfered  them  by  the  Gentiles — 
nay — this  is  the  Christ  they  have  sought,  the 
Christ  of  glory  and  triumphant  power.  So 
will  they  hail  him,  but  he  will  show  them  his 
hands  and  his  feet  with  the  stigmata  of  th 
cross,  and  abashed,  overwhelmed  they  wil 
cry  out,  "What  are  these  wounds  in  thine 
hands?"    Then  he  shall  answer,  "Those  with 


28  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES 

which  I  was  wounded  in  the  house  of  my 
friends."  Zechariah.  12:6.  Then  will  they 
look  upon  him  as  the  one  whom  they  pierced 
and  be  in  mourning  and  repentant  lamenta- 
tion concerning  him,  as  it  is  written:  "And 
they  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have 
pierced,  and  they  shall  mourn  for  him,  as  one 
mourneth  for  his  only  son,  and  shall  be  in 
bitterness  for  him,  as  one  is  in  bitterness  for 
his  first  born."  Zechariah,  12:10.  It  is  of 
this  time  that  the  Apostle  John  writes. 

"Behold,  he  cometh  with  clouds ;  and  every 
eye  shall  see  him :  and  all  kindreds  [tribes] 
of  the  earth  [the  land]  shall  wail  because  of 
him."    Revelation,  1 :  7. 

This  sign  of  Israel's  return  is  confronting 
the  world  and  crying  aloud  to  an  unheeding 
church. 

There  is  yet  a  climacteric  sign  of  the  times. 

A  sign  set  forth  as  the  witness  of  the  clos- 
ing hours  of  the  age  and  as  bringing  into  view 
the  threshold  over  which  the  Son  of  God  shall 
surely  come  to  his  own. 

That  sign  is  composite — earthquake^-  in  di- 
vers places  (this  is  the  testimony  of  the  Lord 
himself),  pestilence  and  famine,  the  waves  of 
the  sea  roaring,  tidal  waves  sweeping  the  land 
and,  from  above,  the  heavens  adding  their 
phenomena  to  the  emphasis  of  terror. 

Within  the  last  fifty  years  earthquakes  have 
been  of  unusual  frequency,  increasing  at  an 
amazing  ratio,  till  scarce  a  day  passes  that  the 


THE   SIGNS   OF   THE    TIMES  29 

seismograph  does  not  record  the  quivering  of 
the  earth  as  though  she  strained  and  moane3 
and  was  in  travail  pain  to  be  delivered  of  that 
new  earth  wherein  righteousness  shall  dwell. 
Only  recently,  and  without  a  moment's  warn- 
ing, the  earth  yawned  and  historic  towns  in 
Italy  were  swept  with  their  thousands  into 
the  awful  gulf;  in  one  night  San  Francisco 
was  levelled  to  the  ground. 

And  pestilence  has  walked  abroad.  The 
dreaded  plague  of  the  East  the  last  ten  years 
has  been  travelling  slowly  but  steadily  west- 
ward. This  year  it  is  at  St.  Petersburg,  in 
Russia,  and  the  first  touch  of  its  clammy  fin- 
gers has  been  felt  in  Italy.  It  has  moved 
eastward  at  the  same  time  and  the  breath  of 
it  has  been  breathed  upon  our  most  western 
shore. 

Famine  has  kept  pace  with  earthquake  and 
pestilence  as  one  of  the  ordained  trinity.  In 
India  thousands  have  been  starved  unto  death 
and  we  have  seen  photographs  of  the  so-called 
living,  pictures  of  men  and  women  and  of  chil- 
dren, whose  bones  spoke  through  their  flesh. 
With  increasing  violence  the  heavens  have 
flung  their  meteors  upon  the  earth.  The  wild 
tempests  have  redoubled  their  fury.  Now  and 
again  the  heat  of  the  summer's  sun  has  smit- 
ten the  cities  till  the  gong*  of  the  hurrying  am- 
bulance has  echoed  from  street  to  street.  The 
icy  blasts  of  winter  have  swept  in  upon  the 
desolated  country.     Cyclones  have  risen  sud- 


30  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

denly  with  the  south  wind,  a  kirid,  ominous 
cloud  sailing  before  them  like  a  monstrous 
winged  presage  of  woe;  there  has  been  a  crash 
of  swirling  thunders,  and  in  an  instant  towns 
and  cities  have  been  obliterated  from  the  map. 
The  waves  of  the  sea  break  loose  as  at  Gal- 
veston ;  or  the  rivers  overflow  as  in  China ;  or 
rise  and  imperil  the  fancied  security  of  such 
an  inland  city  as  Paris;  or  the  sea  again  as- 
serts its  majesty  and  thousands  on  thousands 
are  whelmed  to  their  death  in  the  islands  of 
Japan.  Everywhere  nature  seems  in  arms 
against  the  earth,  as  though  mighty  giants 
filled  with  commission  of  judicial  wrath  were 
seeking  to  smite  man  from  the  face  of  it  and 
teach  him  his  littleness  and  decay,  smothering 
his  cries  of  boasting  beneath  the  onslaughts 
of  their  power. 

These  are  some  of  the  signs  of  the  times. 

What  do  they  mean? 

Their  meaning  is  clear  enough  to  him  who 
cares  to  read. 

These  things,  the  widespread  preparation 
for  war,  the  down-grade  in  the  Protestant 
Church,  the  up-grade  in  the  Roman  Church, 
the  accumulation  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of 
the  few,  the  increase  of  knowledge,  the  run- 
ning to  and  fro — rapid  transit  and  rapid 
flight — the  multiplication  of  human  inventions, 
the  disorganization  of  society,  the  uprise  of 
mobocracy,  the  expanding  cry  that  the  voice 
of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God-  the  return 


THE   SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES  31 

of  the  Jew  to  his  own  land,  the  stealthy  but 
steady  strides  of  pestilence  and  the  sudden 
grip  of  famine,  the  shivering  earth,  quivering 
and  breaking  asunder,  the  waves  of  the  sea 
roaring,  the  menacing  heavens,  loosened 
winds  and  multiplying  storms,  the  outbreak  of 
floods,  the  burning,  scorching  heat  of  the  sun, 
and  mens'  hearts  failing  them  for  fear — every- 
where heart  failure  mixed  with  bold  boasting 
and  unconcealed  defiance  of  God — what  are 
these  but  the  very  signs  pictured  in  the  Word 
of  God  as  antedating  the  advent  of  the  Christ  ? 
In  every  note  of  war,  in  every  tramp  of 
armed  men,  in  every  political  change,  whether 
in  Europe  or  in  Asia,  in  every  bold  denial  of 
the  Word  of  God,  in  the  increase  of  knowledge 
and  with  it  the  increase  of  unbelief,  in  the 
false  faiths  coming  in  the  name  of  Christ,  in 
the  extended  wealth  of  the  few  and  the  in- 
creasing domination  of  commerce  controlled 
by  the  few,  in  the  rising  of  the  multitude  and 
the  chorus  of  lawlessness  which  they  sing,  in 
the  retreat  of  Protestantism  and  the  advance 
of  Romanism,  in  the  homeward-bound  of  the 
Jew,  in  the  breath  of  pestilence  and  the  pinch 
of  famine,  in  the  uncertain  earth  and  the 
frowning  sky — read  the  plain  writing  of  these 
"perilous  times,"  which  an  Apostle  said  should 
come ;  read  the  plain  writing  that  the  age  of 
Gospel  grace  is  drawing  to  a  close ;  that  the 
Antichrist  is  at  hand;  that  the  days  of  the 
\ntichrist  are  casting  forth  their  shadow ;  and 


32  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

that  the  hour  is  ripe  for  that  moment  when 
the  Lord  shall  descend  and  gather  His  church 
to  Himself,  that  He  may  take  her  out  of  the 
way  of  those  judgments  with  which  He  will 
sweep  the  earth  clean,  and  then  bring  her  back 
with  Him  to  reign  in  His  glory  here. 

The  signs  of  the  times  tell  us  that  the  Com- 
ing of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh ;  that  the  judge 
standeth  at  the  door,  and  bid  us  be  ready — 
should  the  Bridegroom  come. 


THE  FAITH 


ONCE  FOR   ALL  DELIVERED  TO  THE   SAINTS. 

"Earnestly  contend  for  the  faith  once  (for 
all)  delivered  to  the  saints."    Jude,  3 

This  is  called  an  age  of  progress. 

It  is  a  time  when  old  ideas  are  being  set 
aside  and  new  ones  brought  in.  It  is  a  time 
when  the  hammer  of  the  iconoclast  is  break- 
ing to  pieces  many  a  heretofore  cherished 
image. 

The  spirit  of  modern  progress  claims  to 
have  wide  vision  and  immense  forecast.  It 
talks  in  large  terms.  The  word  most  fre- 
quently heard  Ts  the  word  "world,"  and  used 
in  an  adjective  sense.  We  hear  of  world 
forces,  world  powers,  world  parliaments, 
world  congresses,  world  movements. 

The  modern  spirit  repudiates  the  narrow  and 
the  sectarian.  Its  outlook  is  over  and  above 
all  party  lines.  It  demands  absolute  mental 
and  moral  freedom.  Its  standard  is  the 
scientific.  Science  must  account  for  all  things. 
Whatever  cannot  be  accounted  for  by  science. 
is  to  be  regarded  as  forming  a  field  for  future 
experiment  in  which  science,  sooner  or  later, 
shall  find  the  answer  and  give  the  demonstra- 
tion. It  has  no  belief  in  the  supernatural. 
There  is  nothing  above  nature.     Nature  may 


34  THE   SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES 

be  higher  or  lower,  but  nature  is  everywhere 
governed  by  the  same  laws.  It  only  requires 
time  to  know  these  laws  and  apply  them.  Evo- 
lution is  the  one  thing  which  unlocks  the  past, 
explains  the  present,  and  gives  prophecies  of 
the  future.  Whatever  does  not  go  along  with 
the  modern  concept  in  its  breadth  of  view, 
its  sense  of  utility  and  reason,  its  practical 
relation  to  the  changing  mood  and  need  of' 
the  times,  must  be  set  aside  as  excuseless  ob- 
struction, as  criminal  hindrance  to  the  onward 
and  upward  march  of  humanity.  The  rallying 
cry  is,  "Keep  up  with  the  times — get  together 
— organize,  bring  out  and  develop  the  latent 
forces  in  man."  In  short,  the  spirit  of  modern 
progress  signifies  the  exaltation  of  the  natural 
and  material  man  as  supreme.  Whatever  is 
to  be  done  in  this  world  worth  doing,  is  to 
be  done  by  him,  in  dependence  on  his  own  re- 
sources, and  as  a  result  of  his  skill  in  combina- 
tion, organization  and  self  reliance. 

The  spirit  of  modernism  and  naturalism 
has  entered  the  church.  In  entering  the  church 
it  finds  itself  face  to  face  with  an  immense, 
deposit  of  old  doctrine  bequeathed  from  the 
New  Testament  Church.  It  finds  such  doc- 
trine as  the  fiat  creation  of  the  world  and 
man,  original  sin,  total  depravity,  redemption 
by  blood,  regeneration  through  tbe  Spirit, 
salvation  by  faith,  the  resurrection  of  the  body, 
the  Second  Coming  of  Christ,  the  felicity  of 
heaven  and  the   sorrows   of  hell.     When   it 


THE   FAITH  35 

enters  the  confines  of  the  New  Testament 
Church,  it  finds  written  over  its  doors  these 
words :  "Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by 
my  spirit,  saith  the  Lord."  As  modern  pro- 
gress forces  its  way  into  the  church  it  finds 
carved  above  its  altars  in  letters  of  Hght,  the 
words:  "Ye  see  your  calling,  brethren,  how 
not  many  wise  men  after  the  flesh,  not  many 
mighty,  not  many  noble  are  called.  But  God 
hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world 
to  confound  the  wise  and  God  hath  chosen 
the  weak  things  of  the  world,  and  things  which 
are  despised  hath  God  chosen,  yea  and  things 
which  are  not,  to  bring  to  naught  things  that 
are,  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence." 
All  this  means  in  simple  terms  that  man  is 
a  lost,  a  ruined,  and  a  helpless  sinner,  and 
that  God  alone  can  save  him.  It  means  that 
the  resources  and  power  of  the  church  of 
Christ  are  to  be  found  exclusively  in  the 
Spirit  of  God.  It  means  that  in  the  work  of 
the  f-hurch,  God  does  not  depend  in  final 
analysis  upon  the  wisdom,  the  strength,  or  the 
genius  of  man;  neither  upon  his  intelligence 
or  moral  concept;  nor  upon  his  latest  sug- 
gested "methods."  In  fact,  it  means  the  set- 
ting aside  of  the  natural  man,  and  is  the  decla- 
ration that  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ,  if  it  is 
anything  at  all  in  the  world,  is  divine,  is  super- 
natural, and  must  be  carried  on  to  success 
through  revealed  concepts  and  ordained  and 
fixed  methods. 


36  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE   TIMES 

Modern  progress  when  it  enters  the  church 
finds  all  this  a  hindrance  to  its  ideas  of  suc- 
cess. It  finds  the  doctrine  of  the  fall  of  man 
and  his  helpless  state  by  nature,  the  need  of 
a  second  birth  by  the  interfering  power  of 
God,  a  stumbling  block  to,  and  an  arraign- 
ment of,  the  twentieth  century  doctrine  of 
the  brotherhood  of  man.  It  finds  the  doc- 
trine that  the  church  must  depend  exclusively 
upon  the  Spirit  of  God,  impracticable.  It 
finds  the  doctrine  that  God  does  not  depend* 
on  human  wisdom  and  genius,  an  absolute 
discouragement  and  a  cruel  blow  to  human 
culture  and  human  development.  It  finds  the 
doctrine  that  Christ  is  coming  a  second  time, 
and  might  come  any  time,  a  menace  and  an 
absolute  hindrance  to  multiplied  moral  and 
social  plans  for  the  bettering  of  the  world; 
and  because  these  doctrines  and  methods  are 
a  hindrance  to  twentieth  century  ideas,  the 
twentieth  century  idea,  the  spirit  of  modern 
progress,  demands  that  the  old  concepts  and 
methods  shall  be  modified,  or  set  aside  com- 
pletely, and  the  church  made  to  conform  to  the 
age  in  which  we  now  live.  It  demands  that 
the  church  shall  come  down  out  of  the  air'; 
that  it  shall  quit  star  gazing  and  begin  to 
realize  that  it  dwells  fast  and  hard  upon  the 
ground ;  that  it  shall  pay  less  attention  to  man's 
future,  and  more  to  his  present;  less  atten- 
tion to  eternity,  and  more  to  time;  that  it 
shall  be  less  elaborate  about  doctrine,  and 


THE    FAITH  37 

more  insistent  about  deeds.  It  demands  that 
the  church  shall  get  rid  both  of  theological 
rubbish  and  antiquated  and  useless  methods ; 
that  it  shall  carry  on  its  work  henceforth  on 
an  up-to-date  and  business-like  basis. 

There  are  churches  which  have  responded 
to  this  twentieth  century  demand.  They  have 
organized  themselves  on  the  most  approved 
business  and  practical  basis.  There  are 
churches  in  which  you  can  get  preaching,  find 
a  place  for  prayer  and,  side  by  side  with  it, 
a  place  for  advanced  athletics.  Churches  in 
which  there  are  swimming  pools  as  well  as 
baptisteries,  employment  bureaus  and  help 
agencies.  Churches  that  are  divided  into  vast 
and  graded  departments.  There  are  churches, 
indeed,  in  which  the  main  building  is  rented 
out  for  stores  and  offices,  for  the  buying  and 
the  selling  of  things — rooms  and  offices  for  the 
money  changers  and  their  tables.  There  is 
an  auditorium  for  church  services  during  the 
Lord's  Day — and  lectures,  "refined  entertain- 
ments," "humorous"  and  "grave,"  during 
the  week.  Rooms  for  committees  and  the  vari- 
ous "secular"  organizations  of  the  church.  In 
the  rental  from  the  business  branches,  the 
church  secures  a  steady  income.  Through  its 
many  and  varied  humanitarian  organizations, 
it  secures  contingents  for  its  congregations. 
There  is  everything  that  can  be  desired  in 
some  of  these  "institutional"  churches,  from 
a  sermon  to  a  sandwich,  from  theology -to 


3d  THE   3IGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

And  this  is  not  all.  Churches  have  not  only 
placed  themselves  on  a  basis  which  is  business- 
like, they  have  set  asiJe  every  doctrine  they 
could  not  modify,  and  modified  every  doctrine 
they  have  kept,  to  suit  the  need  and  the  spirit 
of  the  times.  There  are  men  in  the  pulpit  who 
teach  that  the  Bible  is  more  human  than 
divine.  Its  history  and  science  are  not  to  be 
accepted  seriously.  The  doctrines,  specially 
those  which  touch  the  question  of  sin,  redemp- 
tion and  eternity,  are  to  be  translated  wholly 
by  modern  thought.  Whatever  is  averse  to 
the  idea  of  evolution,  is  to  be  expurgated.  If 
the  Bible  is  to  be  kept  at  all,  it  must  be  kept 
as  the  hand  book  of  moral  maxims  and  read 
in  the  light  of  man's  larger  knowledge.  It 
is  to  be  considered  as  having  originated  in 
the  infancy  of  the  human  mind,  having 
subserved  a  great  purpose  while  man  was  still 
under  the  influence  of  feeling  and  sentiment, 
rather  than  the  strong  facts  of  knowledge  and 
Investigation.  There  are  those  who  talk  swag- 
geringly  about  the  need  of  big  men  in  the 
pulpit,  exalt  human  genius,  and  swear  by  the 
scientific  spirit;  and  there  are  churches  that 
love  to  have  it  so.  In  short,  the  drift  of  the 
hour  in  the  professing  church  is,  more  and 
more,  to  conform  to  the  times  both  in  doc- 
trine and  methods. 

And  what  then  ? 

Well !  when  yon  come  to  make  a  cold  and 
critical  analysis  of  the  church  that  is  to-day 


THE    FAITH  39 

conforming  to  the  twentieth  ceniury  concept, 
you  will  find  that  it  is  ethical  and  not  spiritual. 
Its  spirituality  never  gets  beyond  a  refined 
ethics.  It  is  economic,  and  not  organic.  It 
is  reformative,  and  not  regenerative.  It  is 
humanitarian,  and  not  divine.  Its  rallying  cry 
is  sociology,  and  not  theology.  Its  aim  is  to 
deliver  men,  not  from  the  dangers  of  the 
future,  but  the  vices  of  the  present.  Its  ob- 
ject is  benevolence,  not  holiness.  It  seeks  to 
compete  with  great  humanitarian  organiza- 
tions. It  would  compete  with  the  masonic 
lodge,  the  odd  fellows  lodge,  the  labor  unions, 
the  socialist  club.  It  is  fast  becoming  a  society 
for  competitive  morality,  and  not  the  channel 
for  declarative  truth.  It  seeks  to  cultivate  the 
original  man  and  make  this  world  a  better 
and  more  attractive  place  to  live  in,  and  stay 
in.  In  fact,  it  is  occupied  with  temporal, 
rather  than  eternal,  affairs.  And  thus  the 
church  is  endeavoring  to  conform  to  the 
twentieth  century  spirit — to  its  doctrines  and 
methods. 

And  yet — in  spite  of  all  this  effort  to  con- 
form, whether  it  he  in  the  diminution  of 
doctrine,  or  the  increase  of  organization;  in 
spite  of  theological  institutions,  schools  and 
colleges;  in  spite  of  ethical  and  benevolent 
schemes ;  in  spite  of  organization  after  organi- 
zation until,  in  some  instances,  the  church  it- 
self has  become  the  servant  and  slave  of  any 
one  of  its  minor  societies,  and  the  minister  only 


40  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

one  of  the  many  equally  important  and  world 
inspired  functionaries ;  in  spite  of  bureaus  and 
departments ;  in  spite  of  the  repudiation  of 
every  doctrine  that  is  not  pleasing  to  the 
natural  mind,  the  professed  church,  as  a  moral 
and  social  force,  is  steadily  going  behind ;  it 
is  losing  its  grip  on  the  multitude.  This  is 
evidenced  by  its  failure  to  appeal  to  the  en- 
thusiasm in  men.  That  it  does  fail  to  awaken 
enthusiasm,  is  shown  by  the  decreasing  num- 
ber of  young  men,  keen,  alert,  who  are  willing 
to  devote  themselves  to  the  Christian  ministry. 
Everywhere  the  church  is  suffering  from  a 
paucity  of  younger  preachers.  The  lack  of 
enthusiasm  is  shown  in  the  falling  off  of  liberal 
contributions,  in  the  absence  of  the  spirit  of 
cheerful  giving.  The  contribution  of  the  aver- 
age church  member  to  missions,  home  or  for- 
eign, and  the  support  of  the  local  church,  is 
so  small  that  one  hesitates  to  put  the  figures 
in  print.  If  sentiment,  love  and  devotion,  are 
to  be  measured  by  liberality,  then  the  modern 
church  is  not  creating  these  sentiments. 

The  weakness  of  the  church  is  seen  in  the 
increase  of  irreligiousness  and  infidelity  in  the 
community.  '  No  matter  though  the  preacher 
accommodate  his  doctrine  to  the  latest  scientific 
find ;  no  matter  though  he  break  down  all  the 
old  standards  and  proclaim  himself  a  liberal 
of  liberals,  even  though  the  crowd  may  come 
for  a  while  and  applaud,  they  go  away  con- 
firmed in  their  infidelity',  laughing  at  the  little* 


THE    FAITH  41 

sop  of  modified  doctrine  which  the  preachei 
tries  to  give  them.  As  for  the  individual 
church  member,  he  is  held  to  the  Hne  ot  moral 
living,  not  because  he  is  a  member  of  church, 
not  because  its  doctrines  hold  and  secure  him, 
but  because  it  is  a  safe  business  and  social 
proposition;  because  the  law  of  utilitarianism 
to-day  demands  these  things  irrespective  of 
Christianity.  Thus  in  spite  of  its  repu- 
diation of  the  old  faith,  and  its  multiplied  or- 
ganizations, the  twentieth  century  church  is 
losing  its  grip. 

The  secret  of  all  this  is  plain  enough  except 
to  the  wilfully  blind. 

The  church  has  come  doAvn  from  the  high 
plane  of  the  supernatural  to  the  low  ground  of 
the  natural. 

On  the  ground  of  *he  natural  the  church 
has  no  chance  at  all.  What  chance,  for  ex- 
ample, has  the  church  on  mere  natural  grounds 
alongside  of  a  masonic  lodge,  an  odd  fellow's 
society,  a  labor  union,  a  social,  or  benevolent 
organization?  What  chance  has  a  church 
which  professes  to  stand  for  regeneration  as 
the  only  ground  on  which  a  man  can  call  God 
his  Father,  and  his  fellow  man  his  brother? 
What  chance  has  such  a  church  with  an  organi- 
zation which  will  accept  as  a  brother,  Jew  or 
Gentile,  Trinitarian  or  Unitarian ;  those  who 
believe  in  the  God  of  the  Bible  and  those  who 
do  not.  In  respect  to  brotherhood  the  church 
has  no  chance  at    all,  unless  it  drop  the  doc- 


42  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

trine  of  regeneration  by  the  Spirit,  as  well  as 
redemption  by  blood.  But  suppose  it  does 
drop  those  doctrines,  gives  them  up,  or  modi- 
fies them  so  that  it  means  surrender,  what 
then  ?  Clearly,  it  no  longer  stands  for  what  it 
professes  and,  in  the  long  run,  men  will  de- 
spise it  as  the  meanest  of  all  things  on  earth — 
that  which  professes  one  thing  and  acts  an- 
other. 

The  secret  of  the  church's  failure  lies  in  the 
fact  that  It  no  longer  has  a  message  from  God. 

The  church  to-day,  in  the  hands  of  some 
of  its  representative  ministers  and  teachers,  i"- 
denying  that  we  have  a  distinct  and  unquali- 
fied revelation  from  God.  How  can  the  Bible 
be  a  revelation  from  God  when,  if  the  teach- 
ing of  these  men  be  true,  the  Bible  is  full  of 
fictions  and  fables,  full  of  questionable  mor- 
ality? Such  a  book  is  not  from  God — it  is 
from  man,  and  man  only.  Instead  of  a  mes- 
sage from  God  the  church  is  giving  a  message 
from  men,  scientific  men,  philosophizing  men, 
good  men  they  may  be — but  only  men.  In- 
stead of  a  message  about  heaven,  it  is  a  mes- 
sage about  the  world.  Instead  of  the  affairs 
of  God,  it  is  the  progress  of  man.  Do  men 
want  to  come  to  church  to  hear  such  a  mes- 
sage as  that  ?  Do  men  want  to  come  to  church 
to  hear  about  sociology,  criminology,  peno- 
logy, politics,  science  and  philosophy?  Nay, 
when  men  come  to  church  they  want  to  hear 
about  God  and  eternity ;  whether  there  is  such 


tHE   FAITH  4S 

a  thing;  whether  behind  the  vail  of  death 
there  is  a  level  stretch  of  sunshine  and  glad 
welcoming;  or,  whether  the  night  shuts  down 
close  and  tight,  sealed  with  silence  forever. 
They  want,  when  they  come  to  church,  to 
liear  something  that  will  convince  them  that 
God  is,  that  he  thinks  upon  them,  and  desires 
to  do  them  good.  They  want,  when  they 
come  to  church,  to  hear  about  something 
that  will  help  them  to  live  every  day  and 
hope  for  every  to-morrow.  They  want  to  know 
\yhat  the  will  of  God  concerning  them  may  be, 
and  how  they  may  perform  that  will.  It  is 
not  the  noise  of  the  earthly  city  and  the  stifling 
dust  of  it,  they  want  to  hear  and  breathe — 
they  want  to  breathe  the  pure  air  of  the  heav-* 
enly  city,  and  hear  some  notes  of  its  unfail- 
ing harmonies.  A  church  that  is  taken  up  with 
everything  under  heaven  but  heaven — with 
every  sort  of  message,  but  a  message  direct 
from  God  and  about  God,  has  lost  its  message 
to  men.  When  a  church  has  lost  its  message 
from  God  to  men,  it  has  ceased  to  have  the 
right  to  give  any  message  at  all. 

God  set  the  church  up  in  this  world  that  it 
might  deliver  his  message  to  men,  inviting 
them  to  hear  his  Word  and  enter,  by  faith, 
into  living  union  with  his  Son.  God  set  the 
church  up  that  it  might  speak,  not  to  nations, 
but  to  "every  creature-" ;  that  it  might  bring 
salvation,  not  to  society,  but  to  the  individual 
in  society.    The  church  is  not  giving  that  mes- 


44  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  tlMJES 

sage.  It  has  forgotten  that  "the  power  of 
God"  in  this  age  is  not  through  temperance 
and  reform  societies,  not  through  political  pur- 
gation and  legislative  agitation,  but  that  Gos- 
pel wherein  righteousness  is  revealed  from 
faith  to  faith;  that  Gospel  which  tells  us  that 
the  nexus  between  man's  need  of  righteousness 
and  God's  readiness  to  supply  it,  is  faith  in  that 
crucified  and  risen  Son  of  Gcd  whom  it  pro- 
claims as  the  righteouness  of  God  unto,  and 
upon,  every  one  that  believeth. 

A  further  secret  of  the  church's  weakness  lies 
in  the  fact  that  it  does  not  speak  with  authority. 

This  is  particularly  seen  in  the  Protestant 
division  of  the  professing  church.  Here  every 
man  has  a  psalm  and  every  man  a  doctrine. 
The  latest  theological  fad  is,  that  in  true  re- 
ligion there  is  no  final  authority.  For  Pro- 
testantism to  accept  that  is  to  accept  its  death 
blow.  The  only  ground  upon  which  Protes- 
tantism has  any  decent  right  to  appeal  to  men 
is,  that  it  rests  upon  authority,  no  less  an  au- 
thority than  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God. 
Protestantism  was  born  out  of  Romanism.  It 
came  out  of  Romanism.  It  came  out  as  a  pro- 
test that  the  church  of  Rome  was  setting  itself 
up  above  the  Word  of  God;  that  the  church 
was  claiming  the  right  to  fall  back  upon  tra- 
ditions, upon  the  word  of  man.  Protestantism 
not  only  protested  against  Romanism  as  the 
perverter  of  the  Bible,  but  as  the  ultimate 
denier  of  the  Bible.   Protestantism  came  forth 


THE  FAITH  45 

and  blazoned  on  its  banners,  "The  Bible  and 
nothing  but  the  Bible."  On  this  it  staked  all 
its  claims.  This  was  its  rallying  cry.  It  pro- 
fessed to  speak  with  final  authority.  It  thun- 
dered in  the  ears  of  Pope  and  prelate,  church 
and  council,  a  "thus  saith  the  Lord,"  as  the  end 
of  all  controversy.  And  men  listened,  as  men 
will  listen,  to  the  voice  of  claimed  authority, 
even  though  it  be  a  false  voice  ;  for,  it  has  been 
uncouthly  but  truthfully  said,  that  "a  lie  well 
stuck  to,  is  better  than  the  truth  half  told;" 
half  told,  half  heartedly  uttered,  or  breathed 
out  with  apology,  guess  and  doubt. 

Protestantism  is  throwing  away  its  author- 
ity. It  is  to-day  making  a  complete  surrender. 
When  men  in  the  chairs  of  theological  insti- 
tutions, preachers  in  the  pulpits,  and  profes- 
sedly Christian  writers,  testify  that  the  Bible 
is  no  longer  to  be  accepted  as  fully  inspired 
of  God;  that  divine  inspiration  is  to  be  found 
only  in  spots,  and  then,  to  be  accepted  only 
after  being  certified  by  a  committee  of  recog- 
nized and  modern  scholarship;  that  Abraham 
and  Moses  are  fictitious  personages,  the  book 
of  Daniel  to  a  large  degree  an  imposture,  the 
synoptic  Gospels  an  unfortunate  compilation, 
John's  Gospel  an  Alexandrine  emanation,  the 
book  of  Acts  composed  by  some  unknown 
writer  who  would,  if  possible,  reconcile  the 
Pauline  and  the  Petrine  factions  by  giving  a 
measure  of  justice  to  each;  that  Paul  made 
mistakes  in  his  doctrine  and  was  continually 


46  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

hampered  by  his  crass  Hebraism ;  and  that  the 
book  of  Revelation  is  so  utterly  absurd  that  it 
ought  not  to  be  bound  up  with  the  Bible  at 
all ;  when  representative  men  teach  this ;  when 
some  teachers  testify,  not  only  that  Christ  was 
not  virgin  born,  but  that  he  never  would  have 
claimed  to  be  the  Messiah,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  insistence  of  his  friends;  that  his  death 
was  not  a  necessity,  but  due  in  a  large  measure 
to  his  own  headstrong  determination  to  go  to 
Jerusalem  at  the  wrong  time  and  was,  in  fact, 
little  better  than  a  useless  suicide;  when  this 
sort  of  teaching  may  be  heard  or  read  in  the 
Protestant  church,  it  is  evident  that  Protest- 
antism is  surrendering  its  only  authority.  When 
a  church  no  longer  speaks  with  authority  it 
has  no  right  to  speak  at  all.  For  a  church 
without  absolute  and  final  authority  to  arrest 
the  attention  of  men,  to  bid  them  listen  for 
five  minutes,  is  a  sorry  spectacle  and  an  ex- 
cuseless  impertinence. 

It  is  because  Protestantism  no  longer  speaks 
with  authority  that  it  has  lost,  and  is  losing, 
its  power  with  the  multitude.  The  Catholic 
church  is  succeeding  where  Protestantism  fails, 
just  because  it  does  speak  with  a  claim  to 
authority.  While  that  church  perverts  Holy 
Scripture;  while  it  travesties  the  Word  of 
God;  while  it  sets  before  men  a  Christianity 
that  is  treason  to  the  actual  truth  of  Christ: 
while  it  is  a  church  that  is  represented  in 
Scripture  as  a  harlot  church,  an  idolatrous 


THE   FAITH  4> 

church,  a  church  that  shall,  at  the  last,  be  de- 
stroyed from  the  face  of  the  earth  by  the  in- 
dignation and  the  wrath  of  God;  yet,  because 
it  speaks  with  the  claim  of  authority,  claims 
to  speak  with  the  voice  of  God  and  makes  no 
compromise  with  the  modern  spirit,  it  is  com- 
ing  into  the  middle  of  the  highway,  while  Pro- 
testantism seems  to  be  groping  for  the  wall. 

The  church  is  losing  its  power  because  it  is 
endeavoring  to  carry  on  the  work  of  God  by 
mere  machinery;  depending  upon  organized 
method,  instead  of  upon  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  Spirit  of  God  is  like  the  wind — it  comes 
and  goes  where  "it  listeth."  You  cannot  put 
it  into  human  harness,  or  control  it  by  mere 
human  planning.  The  Spirit  has  its  own  in- 
strumentality, that  instrumentality  is  the  Word 
and  doctrine.  Without  the  doctrine  the  Spirit 
will  not  work.  You  may  try  it.  You  may  set 
aside  every  old  doctrine  you  find  in  the  way  of 
modern  ideas.  You  may  ignore  the  unseen 
Spirit  of  God.  You  may  call  on  the  wise  men 
according  to  the  flesh.  You  may  listen  to  their 
wisdom,  follow  their  plans,  and  organize  your 
church  to  suit  the  times.  You  may  get  every- 
thing fixed  and  nothing  to  do  but  press  the 
button — and  what  then?  Suppose  after  you 
have  pressed  the  button,  the  Spirit  of  the  liv- 
ing God  does  not  see  fit  to  work  along  the  lines 
set  down  nor  follow  out  the  methods? 

The  Lord  Jesus  has  given  us  the  picture  of 
just  such  a  state  of  affairs.    He  paints  the  pic- 


48  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

ture  of  a  church  perfectly  organized;  so  per- 
fectly organized  that  the  treasury  was  full, 
and  the  people  congratulated  each  other  say- 
ing: 'We  are  rich;  we  are  increased  in  goods, 
and  have  need  of  nothing."  It  had  so  identi- 
fied itself  with  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  the 
place  in  which  it  dwelt;  it  had  so  completely 
given  itself  up  to  its  own  methods  and  re- 
sources, that  the  Son  of  God  withdrew  from  it 
and  stood  outside  the  door  as  one  no  longer 
needed  by  them ;  as  one  upon  whom  they  were 
no  longer  casting  their  need  and  dependence. 

What  a  spectacle ! 

A  perfectly  organized  church — a  church 
with  a  full  treasury  and — Jesus  Christ  outside 
of  it. 

That  was  the  church  of  Laodicea;  and,  sin- 
gularly enough — Laodicea  means,  in  the  last 
analysis,  the  people's  church,  a  church  where 
the  majority  rule;  where  the  voice  and  vote 
of  the  people  determine  in  the  church  the 
things  of  God.  To  this  splendidly  organized 
church,  this  church  abreast  of  the  times,  this 
church  full  of  wealth  and  having  no  need, 
Christ  turns  and  utters  the  most  terrific  ar- 
raignment. He  says  he  knows  its  works.  He 
knows  it  is  neither  cold  nor  hot.  It  is  luke- 
warm. There  is  a  little  hot  water  and  a  little 
cold  water.  There  is  enough  of  religion  to 
make '  it  decent  and  enough  of  the  world  to 
make  it  attractive.  There  is  no  burning,  fiery 
enthusiasm  for  Christ.    There  is  no  absolutely 


THE   FAITH  49 

outbreaking  surrender  to  the  world,  the  flesh 
and  the  Devil.  There  is  a  little  of  the  Spirit 
and  a  little  of  the  flesh,  A  little  of  Christ  and 
a  little  of  the  world.  It  is,  on  the  one  hand, 
an  adulterated  Christianity,  and,  on  the  other, 
a  refined  worldliness.  He  wished  it  was  either 
one  thing  or  the  other;  either  a  warm,  full 
hearted  witness  for  him ;  or,  an  absolute  de- 
votee of  the  world.  He  wishes  it  might  be 
wholly  dependent  on  him,  or  utterly  dependent 
on  the  world.  Lukewarm  water  turns  the 
stomach.  It  is  an  emetic.  It  makes  those  whc 
drink  it  vomit.  The  Lord  declares  this  luke- 
warm church  makes  him  sick.  He  cannot 
stand  it.    He  will  spue  it  out  of  his  mouth. 

What  a  statement!  A  church  so  success 
ful,  so  organized,  so  rich,  so  mixed  up  with  the 
world  and  its  methods  that  it  sickens  God's 
Christ  until  he  declares  he  will  spue  it  out  of 
his  mouth.  A  perfectly  organized,  up-to-date 
church  and  Christ  outside  of  it. 

Then  he  proceeds  to  analyze  and  lay  bare 
its  actual  conditions.  He  says  that  with  all  its 
boasting  it   is  "wretched,  and  miserable  and 

poor  (what  a  satire — a  treasury  full  of  money 
and  yet — in  the  Lord's  sight — poor)  and  blind 
(spiritually  blind)  and  naked."  He  counsels 
the  church  (for  in  speaking  to  the  angel,  he 
is  speaking  to  the  church)  he  counsels  the 
church  to  buy  of  him  real  riches,  the  gold  that 
has  been  tried  in  the  fire  (faith)  and  white 
raiment    (spiritual    character).      He    exhorts 


50  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

the  church  to  anoint  the  eyes  (the  understand- 
ing) with  eye  salve  (the  truth)  that  it  may  be 
able  to  see ;  and  then  he  declares  that  hence- 
forth his  dealings  will  be,  not  with  the  church 
as  a  corporate  whole,  but  with  the  individual. 
If  there  is  any  one  in  the  assembly  who  will 
hear  his  voice  (speaking  through  his  Word) 
and  will  open  the  door,  he  will  enter  in  and  hold 
communion  with  him  personally,  even  in  that 
assembly ;  but  the  church  as  a  professing  body 
he  will  repudiate — he  will  stand  outside  of  it. 
It  is  a  terrific  picture. 

A  rich,  thoroughly  organized,  up-to-date 
church,  pervaded  with  the  spirit  of  the  times, 
both  in  doctrine  and  method,  and — 
CHRIST  OUTSIDE  OF  IT ! 
A  church,  as  a  whole,  so  completely  taken 
up  with  its  own  concepts ;  so  deaf  to  the  voice 
and  Word  of  Christ  that  he  has  to  knock 
to  gain  attention ;  and  then,  hopes  to  gain  the 
attention  and  the  response  only  of  an  individual 
here  and  there. 

It  is  a  terrific  picture  and  a  terrific  indict- 
ment. 

It  has  a  great  and  far  reaching  meaning. 
It  means  you  cannot  exalt  human  genius  and 
human  wisdom  in  the  place  of  the  genius  and 
the  wisdom  of  God,  and  do  it  with  impunity. 
You  cannot  call  in  the  wealth  and  resources 
of  the  flesh  and  set  aside  the  riches  of  ofrace 
and  the  resources  of  the  Spirit  without  being 
repudiated  of  God.    It  means  you  cannot  run 


THE  FAITH  51 

the  church  of  Jesus  Christ  as  you  would  run  a 
machine,  or  a  department  store.  It  means  you 
cannot  substitute  either  human  doctrine  or 
human  methods,  rational  interpretation  and 
rational  effort,  for  the  faith  once  for  all  de- 
livered to  the  saints,  and  the  methods  once  for 
all  inspired  of  the  Spirit. 

To  attempt  to  do  so  is  an  insult  to  the  Spirit. 
It  is  an  accusation  against  the  Christ  of  God. 
It  is  saying  that  when  Jesus  Christ  founded  the 
church  two  thousand  years  ago,  he  was  short 
sighted,  he  did  not  see  this  century  and  its 
so-called  practical  needs.  It  is,  indeed,  an 
accusation.  It  is  saying  that  the  old  doctrines 
are  not  the  final  utterance  of  the  Spirit,  and, 
therefore,  not  only  not  eternal,  but  not  infalli- 
ble. It  is  saying  that  men  like  Jude  and  James, 
Peter  and  John,  and  the  apostle  Paul,  did  not 
know  as  much  as  some  rationalistic  preacher 
in  the  pulpit,  and  some  self  exalted  layman 
in  the  pew.  All  this  is  an  insult  to  Christ, 
the  Head  of  the  church.  The  nation  of  Israel 
was  set  aside  because  it  refused  to  stand  as  a 
faithful  witness  for  God.  The  Gentile  church 
was  brought  in  that  it  might  be  the  spiritual 
temple  of  God,  and  the  witness  for  a  crucified 
and  risen  Lord ;  and,  so  writes  the  apostle 
Paul,  unless  it  stands  by  faith  and  in  the  faith, 
it  will  be  cut  off  and  set  aside.  The  scene  in 
Laodicea  is  an  advance  on  the  testimony  of 
Paul.  It  is  the  Lord  himself  speaking  from 
Heaven   and   with   solemn  voice   saying. 


52  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

"I  WILL  SPUE  THEE  OUT  OF  MY 
MOUTH." 

It  is  the  Lord's  solemn  warning  that  the 
church  which  modifies  or  denies  his  Word  and 
substitutes  human  wisdom  and  fleshly  energy 
for  his  wisdom  and  his  energy,  is  on  the  edge 
of  doom. 

Here  then  you  have  a  clear  vision  of  the 
church's  failure  and  present  danger.  In  its 
endeavor  to  be  modern,  to  conform  to  the 
times,  to  be  a  twentieth  century  church,  and 
not  a  first  century  church,  it  is  repudiating  that 
Lord  who  is  alone  its  Head  and  Life.  • 

And  what  does  the  apostle  Jude  say  in 
anticipation  of  all  this?  He  says,  "Earnestly 
contend  for  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered 
to  the  saints."  He  is  saying  that  the  doctrine 
delivered  to  the  church  two  thousand  years 
ago,  must  be  preached  to-day.  He  is  saying 
that  the  method  and  manner  of  the  church 
two  thousand  years  ago,  must  be  the  method 
and  manner  of  the  church  to-day.  If  the 
twentieth  century  church  tells  us  that  man 
instead  of  falling  down  has  fallen  up ;  if  the 
twentieth  century  church  tells  us  that  the  doc- 
trine of  atonement  by  blood  is  the  doctrine  of 
the  butcher  shop,  and  must  go;  that  the  sci- 
entific spirit  repudiates  the  resurrection  of 
the  body ;  that  the  stories  of  the  Old  Testament 
are  fables  and  the  miracles  of  the  New  to  be 
rejected;  if  the  twentieth  century  church  tells 
us  that  the  church  cannot  get  on  if  it  persists 


tHE  PAITH  53 

in  carrying  a  load  of  old  and  exploded  doc- 
trines, on  the  one  side,  and  the  slowness  and 
ineptness  of  antiquated  methods,  on  the  other ; 
if  the  twentieth  century  church  tells  us  that 
the  church  must  become  modern  in  doctrine 
and  business-like  in  method;  if  the  twentieth 
century  church  insists  on  all  this  in  the  name 
of  an  up-to-date  progress,  then,  by  this  concrete 
exhortation,  Jude  would  tell  us  that  we  are  to 
stand  up  and  repudiate  the  twentieth  century 
church.  We  are  to  turn  and  tell  its  apostles, 
its  teachers,  and  leaders,  that  it  is  a  dead 
failure  spiritually,  and  instead  of  being  ahead, 
is  absolutely  behind  the  New  Testament 
church;  that  compared  with  the  church  of  the 
first  century,  the  twentieth  century  church  is 
a  mere  weakling. 

Do  you  doubt  it? 

Then  let  us  take  up  the  first  century  church 
on  the  issue  of  organization,  plan  and  work; 
on  the  issue  of  modern  progress  and  modern 
wisdom.    Let  us  go  back  to  Pentecost. 

Three  thousand  converted  in  one  day! 

How  was  it  done? 

Simon  Peter  was  the  preacher. 

How  did  he  succeed? 

Did  he  stand  up  before  the  waiting  multi- 
tude, deny  the  Old  Scripture  and  give  some 
new  doctrine  ?  Nay !  He  preached  from  a  text 
written  a  thousand  years  before.  He  preached 
from  the  Old  Scripture. 

Did  he  have  a  tent  erected  in  every  open  lot 


54  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

of  the  city  of  Jerusalem?  Did  he  have  an 
evangelistic  committee  visiting  from  house  to 
house?  Did  he  have  a  bureau  sending  out 
evangelistic  literature  as  thick  as  leaves  in 
autumn?  Did  he  have  fetching  advertise- 
ments placarded  on  all  the  dead  walls  of  the 
town?  Did  he  announce  attractive  music  by 
trained  choirs  that  would  vie  with  the  choral 
service  of  the  temple?  Above  all,  did  he  have 
behind  him  an  organized  finance  ready  to  meet 
every  emergency  of  expense? 

Nay! 

He  had  none  of  these  things.  He  did  none 
of  these  things.  He  just  stood  up,  a  simple 
man,  born  and  bred  amid  fisher  folk,  he  just 
stood  up  and  preached  the  truth  of  God  in 
plain  and  simple  terms,  modifying  nothing, 
nor  giving  rein  to  human  fancy;  and  the 
Spirit  of  the  living  God,  recognizing  the  Word 
as  his  familiar  and  chosen  instrument,  swept 
down  upon  the  multitude.  One  day  he 
preached,  as  already  stated,  and  three  thous- 
and turned  to  the  Lord.  Another  day  he 
preached  from  the  same  Old  Scripture,  and, 
this  time,  it  was  five  thousand  men  who  be- 
lieved— five  thousand  men,  not  counting  the 
women  and  children.  And  yet,  in  this  twen- 
tieth century,  after  an  evangelistic  campaign 
has  been  carefully  planned,  all  the  churches 
invited,  a  marvellous  organization  perfected, 
committee  after  committee  created,  after  an- 
nouncement and  reports  of  sermons  and  every 


THE    FAITH  55 

force  utilized  that  can  awakc*^  interest  and  put 
the  people  on  the  qui  vive;  when  after  weeks 
of  meetings  by  day  and  by  night,  and  the  work 
of  scores  of  well-known  preachers,  teachers, 
and  the  auxiliary  corps  of  trained  helpers  from 
all  denominations,  a  thousand  persons,  two- 
thirds  of  them  women  and  children,  profess 
conversion,  we  call  it  remarkable,  a  tribute  t'' 
twentieth  century  organization  and  getting 
together — a  witness  that  up-to-date  Christian- 
ity is  successful. 

Look  at  Paul  in  Corinth. 
What  that  name  of  "Corinth"  evokes!    Not 
merely  the  city  of  beauty,   of  commerce,   of 
wealth  and  misery,  but  a  city  where  vice  was 
virtue   and   virtue  vice ;   where   the   very   air 
was  spiced  with  the  breath  of  sensualism,  and 
passion  and  shameless  iniquity  were  enthroned 
in      gilded     palaces;     where     white     hands 
stretched  out  and  red  lips  sang  siren  songs ; 
where    eyes    of    voluptuous    wantonness    en- 
treated man  to  sin,  and  fall,  and  be  glad  in  his 
sin.    A  city  where  the  lower  vices  and  crimes 
surged  through  the  black  alleys  of  the  slums 
in   a  tide  of  fetid  wickedness  and   nameless 
horror  of  license  and  brutish  gratification.  The 
city  of  all  cities  that  might  well  be  called  the 
city  of  the  flesh.     Not  alone  was  it  a  city  of 
mere  sensuous  gratification  high  and  low,  it 
was  a  city  where  the  versatile,  laughing,  and 
free  hearted  Greek  spirit  ruled  and  reigned. 
From    the    Acrocorinthian    heights,    the    city 


56  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

caught  the  light  as  it  flashed  from  Athenian 
Minerva's  shield ;  and  to  its  easy,  careless  vol- 
uptousness,  Corinth  added  the  accent  of 
Athen's  schools  and  the  partizanship  of  her 
philosophies.  It  was  a  city  of  art,  of  literature, 
of  science,  and  the  energy  of  human  genius. 

To  this  city  Paul  came. 

He  entered  it  without  letter  of  introduction. 
There  was  no  syndicate  of  rich  laymen  behind 
him.  He  had  no  organization.  He  was  poor. 
He  dwelt  in  the  scantiest  quarter  of  the  city. 
He  worked  as  a  day  laborer.  Yet  he  preached. 
He  preached  the  Gospel  of  a  crucified  and 
risen  Son  of  God.  He  knew  the  cross  was  a 
stumbling  block  to  the  Jew  and  foolishness 
to  the  Greek.  Yet  he  founded  in  that  city, 
and  out  of  the  most  unpromising  material, 
the  church  which  stands  as  the  church  of 
Gospel  order  for  all  the  centuries. 

Look  at  this  same  Paul  in  Ephesus. 

He  goes  into  that  great  city.  He  takes  up 
the  Old  Scriptures,  and,  mark  you,  he  was 
equally  at  home  in  Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin. 
He  could  quote  the  poets.  It  would  have  been 
quite  easy  for  him  to  have  embroidered  his 
discourse  with  choice  selections  from  the  an- 
thology of  the  hour.  He  was  educated,  cul- 
tured, deeply  learned.  He  was  not  only  a 
Jew,  but  a  Roman,  a  free  born  citizen,  and 
carried  the  prestige  of  that  citizenship.  If 
he  had  so  chosen,  he  could  have  talked  along 
the   most   advanced   and   philosophical   lines. 


THE   FAITH  57 

Well !  What  did  he  do?  The  record  is  before 
us.  He  takes  the  Old  Scriptures,  and  from 
those  Scriptures  he  preaches  the  old  doctrine 
of  redemption  by  blood.  He  preaches  Jesus 
and  the  resurrection.  He  preaches  from  the 
very  Scriptures  which  the  twentieth  century 
repudiates.  And  what  happens?  Something 
wonderful,  indeed.  Instead  of  taking  the  Old 
Scriptures  and  rejecting  them,  the  people 
crowded  to  the  public  square,  brought  their 
infidel,  their  modern,  and  up-to-date  libraries 
with  them,  and  burned  the  books  there,  till  the 
whole  city  was  alight  with  the  flame  of  the 
bonfire. 

Paul  had  no  organization  behind  him.  He 
did  not  bring  himself  into  accord  with  the 
times.  He  just  preached  the  Word  and  waited 
on  God  and  the  Spirit ;  and  the  Spirit  wrought 
through  him.  So  it  ever  has  been  down  through 
the  ages.  The  greatest  conversions  have  come 
when  the  church  has  got  down  on  its  knees, 
risen  up,  given  itself  to  God,  and  then  preached 
the  old  "faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the 
saints;"  preached  it  without  modification, 
leaving  the  responsibility  with  God  who  gave 
the  message.  Thus  the  Spirit  of  God  without 
waiting  for  human  plans  and  human  methods, 
has  swept  down  upon  the  multitude  and  lifted 
them  in  tidal  waves  of  salvation  to  the  feet 
of  Christ. 

The  great  force  that  has  wrought  in  the 
world  for  God  during  the  last  two  thousand 


58  THE    SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

years  is  this  "faith  once  for  all  delivered  to 
the  saints."  It  has  proved  itself  equal  to  every 
age  in  which  it  has  been  preached.  It  is  the 
light  which  alone  can  penetrate  the  world's 
darkness,  the  light  which  alone  can  reveal  the 
truth  concerning  man  and  the  truth  concern- 
ing God.  In  it  is  the  testimony  of  divine  love, 
of  measureless  grace,  and  the  seeking  heart  of 
God.  It  is  the  instrumentality  the  Spirit  never 
fails  to  use  in  one  way  or  another.  Whatever 
there  is  of  salt,  of  spiritual  sanity  in  the  world, 
has  been  produced  by  the  "faith  once  for  all 
delivered  to  the  saints."  Whenever  and  wher- 
ever it  has  been  changed  to  suit  the  times ; 
whenever  its  statements  have  been  minimized 
and  its  force  diminished,  there  the  church  has 
failed,  and  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  Devil, 
have  triumphed. 

It  is,  indeed,  a  striking  sign  of  the  times, 
that  the  church  is  so  rapidly  departing  from 
the  faith,  and  so  eagerly  accepting  the  new 
rationalism.  It  is  a  striking  sign  of  the  times, 
that  with  the  refusal  to  endure  sound  doctrine, 
there  is  a  growing  and  deepening  spiritual 
darkness  in  the  church,  and  restlessness  and 
discontent  in  the  world.  It  is  a  sign  on  one 
side,  that  the  world  is  no  longer  interested  in 
the  church ;  it  is  a  sign  on  the  other,  that  the 
church  no  longer  has  power  to  interest  the 
world.  It  is  a  sign  that  the  conditions  so  fully 
portrayed  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  his 
apostles,  is  upon  us;  the  time  when  the  light 


VHP.    FAMH  59 

of  God  shall  grow  dim  and  feeble  in  the  pro- 
fessing church.  It  is  a  sign  of  that  time  when 
the  Lord  will  turn  and  cut  off  the  worldly 
church,  and,  taking  the  true  body  secretly 
into  heaven  to  himself,  commence,  once  more, 
and  finally,  his  dealings  with  Israel  and  the 
Gentile  nations. 

The  need  of  the  hour  on  the  part  of  all  who 
would  meet  their  Lord  with  joy  and  not  with 
shame,  is  to  stand  forth  boldly,  as  never  before, 
for  the  "faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the 
saints,"  and  by  word  of  testimony,  by  attitude 
of  life,  rebuke  this  subtle,  insidious  spirit  of 
so-called  modernism ;  a  spirit  that,  with  all  its 
wings  of  light,  its  smooth  speech,  its  attractive 
preachments  of  morality  and  world  wide  de- 
mand for  righteousness,  its  flattery  of  the  nat- 
ural man,  all  its  invitations  to  self  reliance  in 
the  name  of  the  larger  Gospel,  is  none  other 
than  the  Devil  himself,  transformed  into  an 
angel  of  light  and  companied  by  his  faithful 
ministers,  who  are  ministers  of  righteousness, 
indeed,  but  a  righteousness  that  has  no  rela- 
tion to  the  blood  of  sacrifice ;  and  is  unowned 
and  unaccepted  of  God. 

The  need  of  the  hour  is  to  stand  for  the  old 
doctrine ;  to  look  at  the  natural  man  as  God 
looks  at  him;  to  take  God's  estimate  of  man, 
and  not  man's  estimate  of  himself.  The  need 
of  the  hour  is  to  faithfully  preach  as  God 
would  have  us  preach,  as  he  said  to  Jonah, 
"preach  the  preaching  that  I  hid  thee ;"  preach 


60  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

the  truth  that  man  is  not  ascending  in  the  scale 
of  Hfe  but,  on  the  contrary,  still  travelling  the 
downward  path  which  revealed  its  first  de- 
scending trend  when  man  in  Eden  listened  to 
the  Devil's  lie,  rather  than  to  God's  truth ;  (that 
hour  when  leaning  to  his  own  wisdom  he  knew 
not  God;)  the  declining  path  which  first  began 
at  Eden's  gates  and  has  wound  down  through 
the  ages  to  this  very  hour.  The  need  is  to 
proclaim  faithfully  the  total  inability  of  the 
natural  man  to  understand  the  things  of  God ; 
that  even  though  an  angel  from  Heaven  should 
proclaim  them,  they  would  still  be  foolishness 
to  him.  The  need  and  the  obligation  upon 
every  faithful  minister  of  Christ  is  to  pro- 
claim in  language  so  plain  that  he  who  runs 
may  read  with  smoothness  while  he  runs,  that 
the  only  ground  of  approach  to  a  holy  God  is 
the  blood  of  a  holy  sacrifice;  that  the  way  to 
life  eternal  lies  through  death,  the  death  of  an 
infinite  substitute,  no  less  than  God  himself, 
manifested  in  the  person  of  his  Son.  In  face 
of  the  demand  that  the  church  shall  turn  from 
the  unseen  and  eternal  things,  to  the  things 
that  are  seen  and  temporal ;  in  the  face  of  that 
teaching  which  makes  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  nothing  more  than  the  continuation  of 
his  spirit  and  influence  in  the  world ;  that 
teaching  which  makes  Christianity  only  one 
of  varied  religions  and  puts  it  in  the  scale  of 
mere  comparative  values,  it  is  time  for  the 
ambassadors  of  Christ  to  speak  and  clearly 


THE    FAITH  61 

testify  with  the  apostle  of  old,  that  there  is 
"none  other  name  under  heaven  given  among 
men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved,"  except  the 
name  of  Jesus.  In  proportion  as  the  wisdom 
of  the  hour  discounts  the  perils  of  the  future, 
it  is  more  and  more  important  that  the  preacher 
and  teacher  shall  warn  men  in  the  very  words 
of  the  Son  of  God  himself,  that  it  is  better  to 
pluck  out  an  eye,  cut  off  a  hand  or  a  foot,  than 
having  all  these  members,  to  take  part  in  the 
second  resurrection  and  from  thence  be  cast 
into  the  lake  of  fire — the  second  death. 

It  is  time  to  lift  up  the  voice,  cry  aloud  and 
spare  not. 

When  the  apostle  Paul  got  a  clear  vision  of 
the  closing  hours  of  this  age ;  when  he  saw 
that  false  teachers  would  arise  in  the  church, 
and  that  the  doctrines  as  delivered  to  the  saints 
would  not  be  "endured,"  he  did  not,  like  Elijah, 
fling  himself  down  at  the  foot  of  a  juniper  tree 
and  cry  out  that  all  was  lost,  that  he  was  left 
alone;  on  the  contrary,  he  said,  "Preach  the 
word ;  be  instant  in  season,  out  of  season ; 
reprove,  rebuke,  exhort,  with  all  longsuffering 
and  doctrine."  The  greater  the  disease,  the 
more  necessity  for  the  remedy.  The  greater 
the  peril,  the  more  need  of  the  rescue. 

Nor,  indeed,  should  the  true  Christian 
be  overwhelmed  with  the  down-grade  in  the 
church,  as  though  God  had  failed  and  his 
Word  had  proved  untrue.  Instead,  let  him  see 
that  the  very  characteristics  of  the  times,  the 


62  THE  SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES 

very  repudiation  of  the  "faith  once  for  all  de- 
livered to  the  saints,"  is  the  fulfillment,  line  for 
line,  of  the  apostolic  and  Christly  words,  and 
the  dynamic  demonstration  that  it  is,  indeed, 
and  in  truth,  not  the  word  of  man,  but  the 
very  Word  of  God.  Let  him  look  upon  the 
present  state  of  the  church  as  a  sign  of  thf* 
times;  as  a  witness  of  the  closing  hours  oi 
this  age,  the  Coming  of  the  Lord  to  take  his 
true  household  of  faith  to  himself,  and,  gird- 
ing the  loins,  let  that  Christian  obey  the  ex- 
hortation of  the  apostle  Jude  to  contend 
"earnestly  for  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered 
to  the  saints." 


PROGRESS  OF  THE 
DEVIL'S  LIES 


"Ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and 
evil."    Genesis.  3  :5. 

"The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God."  I. 
Corinthians,  1 :21. 

The  purpose  of  God  concerning  man  is  de- 
clared in  his  own  words : 

"Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  and  after 
our  likeness :  and  let  them  have  dominion  *  *  * 
over  the  earth."    Genesis,  1 :26. 

The  invisible  God  would  become  visible.  He 
would  materialize  his  personality,  and  mani- 
fest his  power  in  an  individual  life,  a  life 
that  could  be  seen,  heard,  touched  and  ban- 
died. God  would  enthrone  himself  in  human- 
ity, he  would  have  the  fulness  of  the  god- 
head bodily  to  dwell  in  man.  That  was  God's 
purpose  concerning  man. 

It  is  Incarnation ! 

Not  incarnation  suggested  and  defined  in  the 
councils  of  men  some  thousands  of  years  later, 
but  incarnation  written  on  the  very  first  page 
of  Genesis,  proclaimed  by  God  himself,  and 
sealed  in  the  creation  of  the  very  first  man. 

Incarnation    is    the    primal    cause    of    the 


64  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

world's  creation.  It  alone  accounts  for  and 
justifies  it.  It  lies  at  the  very  root  of  human- 
ity. It  is  its  raison  d'etre,  its  only  right  to  be. 
Eden  is  the  anticipation  of  Bethlehem,  and 
Adam  is,  truly,  "the  figure  of  him  that  was 
to  come." 

Humanity  the  revelation  of  God,  God  re- 
vealed through  humanity — this  is  the  meaning 
of  man's  creation,  and  the  stamp  of  God's 
eternal  purpose. 

The  revelation  of  God  through  man,  in- 
cludes the  revelation  of  God  to  man. 

Such  a  revelation  would  bring  man  into 
intimate  knowledge  of,  and  communion  with, 
the  heretofore  unseen  God.  It  would  make 
him  a  co-partner  with  the  Almighty  in  the 
mysteries  of  being  and  knowledge. 

As  the  image  of  God,  he  would  be  the  de- 
pository of  his  authority  and  government;  as 
the  likeness  of  God,  he  would  reveal  his  con- 
stitution and  character.  By  so  much,  man 
would  become  the  very  word,  the  exact  vibra- 
tion, and  the  perfect  reverberation  of  God's 
■nind  and  thought. 

It  was  a  great  and  high  purpose,  worthy  of 
the  infinite  intelligence  that  proposed  it,  a  fit 
suggestion  of  divine  love,  carrying  with  it 
the  promise,  not  only  of  immeasurable  honor 
and  dignity,  but  timeless  felicity. 

But  the  finality  of  this  purpose  was  con- 
ditioned upon  absolute  faith.  Man  must  take 
the  place  of  a  recipient,  a  dependent  on  the 


PROGRESS    CF    THE    DEVIL*S    LIE  65 

Lord  who  created  him.  The  condition  was  of 
pure  logic.  Faith  is  the  only  agency  by  which 
the  less  can  be  blessed  of  the  better,  the  finite 
by  the  infinite.  It  is  the  way  alone  by  which 
weakness  may  gain  from  strength,  and  ignor- 
ance from  knowledge.  It  is  the  attitude  which 
glorifies  God.  It  confesses  him  as  supreme. 
It  brings  him  in  as  the  source,  as  the  only 
factor.    It  makes  him  all  in  all. 

The  moment  man  should  take  the  place  of 
faith  he  would  be  like  a  cathedral  window 
through  which  the  pure  light  would  flash 
in  transfigured  and  comprehensive  beauty — 
illuminating  the  worshipping  soul  within ;  he 
would  be  as  a  perfect  organ  surrendered  to  the 
Master's  touch,  translating  the  silence  of  God 
into  the  music  of  understood  promise  and 
pledge.  The  moment  of  faith  he  would  be- 
come the  thesaurus  of  God-head,  the  deposi- 
tory of  all  the  treasures  of  divine  wisdom  and 
knowledge.  Faith  would  be  the  unseen  but 
unfailing  nexus  by  which,  and  through  which, 
the  eternal  God  would  pour  himself  concen- 
tratedly,  and  yet  fully,  into  this  created  being 
called  man — making  him  the  concrete  of  him- 
self in  this  world — God  manifest  in  the  flesh 
and,  in  truth,  the  visible,  vicegerent  God  of 
the  world. 

The  Devil,  that  high  and  exalted  intelli- 
gence whom,  in  marked  contrast  to  man,  the 
angels  treat  with  dignity,  dethroned  from  the 
rulership  of  the  pre-existent  earth,  recognized 


66  THE   SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES 

and  owned  God's  purpose  to  make  man  a  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  his  governmental  and 
moral  representative  upon  the  earth ;  and  he 
threw  himself  across  that  purpose  with  the 
determination  to  thwart  it  and  still  hold  for 
himself,  if  he  might,  this  world,  of  whose 
dominion  he  had  been  officially  dispossessed. 
He  raised  the  question  with  man  as 
to  this  proposed  method  of  dependent 
faith.  He  suggested  a  doubt  as  to  the 
integrity  of  God's  Word,  that  Word  wherein 
God  had  set  up  the  issue  of  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge and  had  legislated  the  prohibitive  pen- 
alty. The  Devil,  at  once,  formulated  a  subtle 
accusative  suggestion  against  the  justice  of 
God.  God  had  forbidden  knowledge  to  man, 
except  as  it  should  come  direct  from  him.  He 
had  forbidden  man  to  seek  it.  He  had  com- 
manded him  to  receive  it  from  himself  and 
then,  only  when  he  should  have  taken  the  place 
of  dependent  and  expectant  faith. 

Why  should  God  do  this?  Did  God  know 
that  man  had  in  him  already  the  germs  of 
divinity?  Did  he  know  the  moment  man  laid 
hold  of  knowledge  for  himself,  he  would  for- 
evermore  be  delivered  from  the  place  of  tutel- 
age? Did  he  know  that  with  one  bound  man 
would  take  his  place  on  an  equality  with  God ; 
that  his  unfolding  intelligence  would  put  him 
on  a  par  with  the  infinite  power?  Did  he 
know  that  man  would  become  an  independent 
God,  claiming  his  rights  as  God,  and  refusing 


PROGRESS   OF    THE    DEVIL's    LIE  67 

the  role  of  a  serf?  Was  God  afraid  of  man, 
and  would  he  keep  him  in  the  place  of  limita- 
tion and  make  a  servant  of  him,  a  minister 
to  his  own  glory,  keeping  man  in  continual 
ignorance  of  all  the  resources  which,  as  God 
was  his  creator,  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
case  (man  being  his  direct  emanation)  must 
now  be  fully  dwelling  in  him  ? 

Surely,  man  must  see,  such  is  the  Devil's 
suggestion,  surely  he  must  see  that  God  has 
an  ulterior  design  and  is  not  dealing  frankly. 

And,  after  all,  did  God  really  say  thus  and 
so?  Did  God  really  forbid  man  the  way  of 
knowledge  ?  Was  it  God's  very  Word  that  man 
actually  heard? 

These  are  the  Devil's  questions. 

And  it  is  to  be  remembered  through  all 
time  that  the  Devil  began  his  work  in  the 
world  with  a  question.  An  interrogation  point 
is  the  sign  of  a  question.  That  sign  is  in  the 
shape  and  form  of  a  serpent,  coiled  and  ready 
to  strike.  It  is  a  fit  emblem.  A  question  with 
an  innuendo  concealed  within  its  apparent 
harmlessness  is  a  coiled  serpent.  The  ques- 
tion that  raises  an  innuendo  against  the  Word 
of  God  is  a  coiled,  deadly  serpent.  When  it 
strikes  it  leaves  the  poisoned  sting  of  disin- 
tegrating doubt.  The  first  question  with  an 
innuendo  in  it  was  asked  by  "that  old  serpent, 
called  the  Devil,  and  Satan" — when  he  said 
with  a  hiss  of  hate  in  every  word : 

"Hath  God  said?" 


68  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

"Hath  God  said?"  Is  it  certain  that  this  is 
God's  Word?  Is  there  any  real  evidence  that 
God  has  spoken  at  all  ? 

Having  introduced  the  wedge  of  doubt  the 
Devil  suggests  to  man — for  Eve  represents 
the  emotional  side  of  man,  while  Adam  sets 
forth  the  intellectual  side — the  Devil  suggests 
to  man  that  he  put  aside  the  demand  of  the 
Creator  and,  instead  of  walking  by  faith,  walk 
in  the  light  and  by  the  right  of  his  own  in- 
hering reason.  Let  him  search,  let  him  exam- 
ine, analyze,  taste,  see,  and  know  for  himself. 
Let  him  refuse  to  accept  anything  on  hearsay, 
and  receive  only  that  which  he  himself  might 
demonstrate  and  prove. 

This,  the  Devil  would  have  him  realize,  was 
the  true  dignity  of  man.  To  go  mooning 
through  the  earth  with  the  eyes  shut  and  call- 
ing it  faith ;  to  go  groping  like  a  blind  man  for 
the  wall  and  attempt  to  justify  that  by  calling 
it  faith;  listening  for  the  fancied  voice  of 
God,  and  never  getting  beyond  a  weak  and 
helpless  dependence — that  attitude  was  false, 
servile  and  shameful.  Let  man  put  the 
crown  of  reason  on  his  brow,  take  the  scep- 
tre of  his  own  will,  conquer  by  the  force  of  his 
own  genius,  and  then  exercise  the  dominion 
which  was  his.  Let  him  be  a  God  in  his  own 
inalienable  right — the  true  God  of  the  world. 
Thus  the  Devil  suggested  and  his  hiss  of  in- 
nuendo grew  into  a  bold  and  attractive  prom- 
ise: 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   DEV1L*S    UE  69 

"Ye  shall  be  as  gods." 

The  issue  was  simple.  It  was  an  appeal 
to  self  exaltation  and  the  dethronement  of 
God  in  the  soul.  It  was  an  issue  simple  and 
net  whether  man  would  walk  by  faith  in  God 
and  come,  through  dependence  on  God,  into 
his  full  inheritance ;  or,  whether  he  would  walk 
by  sight  and  depend  on  reason. 

Man  set  aside  faith  and  chose  reason. 

The  effect  of  this  attitude  upon  man  is  re- 
corded in  Holy  Writ: 

"The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God." 

In  setting  aside  faith  man  turned  his  back 
on  God. 

When  man  turned  his  back  on  God,  Grod 
withdrew  from  partnership  with  man. 

For  six  thousand  years  this  break  in  the 
faith  relationship  has  been  written  in  human 
history.  For  six  thousand  years  man  has  con- 
tinued to  eat  of  the  tree  of  knowledge;  for 
the  flaming  sword  only  kept  "the  way  of 
the  tree  of  life."  For  six  thousand  years  he 
has  battled  with  the  problem  of  good  and  evil. 
For  six  thousand  years  he  has  studied  and 
thought,  searched  and  investigated.  He  has 
attained  to  much  knowledge.  He  knows  the 
composition  of  certain  gases  and  the  laws 
which  govern  them.  He  has  climbed  to  the 
highway  of  exalted  mathematics  till  he  can, 
from  that  vantage  route,  measure  the  weight, 
the  density  and  the  speed,  of  the  circling 
worlds.    He  can  look  out  into  the  dark  of  the 


70  THE  SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES 

infinite  space  and  tell  you  that  a  certain  comet 
has  been  blazing  its  way  for  years  earth-ward ; 
he  will  tell  you  in  what  constellation  it  will 
appear  and  fix  to  a  day  and  second,  the  date 
and  the  time,  when  it  will  arrive.  He  deals 
with  figures  that  astound.  Think  of  the  tele- 
scope with  which  he  sweeps  a  sphere  of  stars 
whose  diameter  is  seven  millions  of  years  as 
light  flies.  Think  of  the  audacity  with  which 
he  measures  Alcyone  and  tells  you  with  as- 
sured conviction  that  it  is  a  world  in  making 
and  yet,  as  a  sun,  outshines  the  strength  of 
twelve  thousand  of  our  own.  On  this  highway 
of  mathematics  he  will  travel  nearly  three  bil- 
lions of  miles  to  where  Neptune  holds  his 
nightly  vigil  on  the  frontiers  of  our  solar  sys- 
tem, and  soaring  beyond,  away  beyond,  all 
vision,  will  speak  of  distance  in  figures  that 
make  the  brain  to  swim  and  every  nerve  to 
quiver. 

He  has  applied  his  knowledge  till  it  is  a 
ratio  of  power.  Mountains  flow  down  at  his 
presence  and  fill  the  valleys  at  his  will.  The 
desert  blossoms  when  he  commands,  and  the 
mines  yield  up  their  wealth.  He  moves  upon 
the  sea,  and  the  restless  waters  own  him  as 
their  king,  bearing  him  aloft  upon  their  high- 
est waves,  and  keeping  him  and  all  his  costly 
freight  on  even  level.  Electricity,  the  last 
loosed  angel  of  power,  bends  its  neck,  and 
owns  the  human  lordship  of  the  world.  Land 
and  sea  are  part  of  his  conquered  domain. 


PROGRESS  OF   THE   DEVIL's    LIE  71 

and  now,  he  is  invading  the  realm  of  air, 
taking  wings  unto  himself  and  seeking  to  fly 
to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  and,  as- 
cending sunward,  endeavors  with  his  own  un- 
aided hand  to  reach  and  hold  the  highest 
throne  of  God. 

I  do  not  speak  of  the  analysis  he  has  made 
of  himself,  the  analysis  of  his  body  and  mind. 
He  has  taken  his  body  apart  and  put  it  to- 
gether again  like  a  machine  and  says,  loftily, 
I  am  greater  than  my  body.  He  is  now  entering 
into  the  phenomena  of  the  soul,  and  standing 
on  the  edge  of  the  unseen,  endeavors  to  throw 
the  plummet  line  of  his  reason  into  the  un- 
resounding  worlds  filled  with  forms  and  forces 
beyond  the  sweep  of  eyelash  and  the  touch 
of  finger-tip. 

When  you  follow  nim  along  the  pathway  of 
what  seems  to  be  his  actual  achievement,  he 
does  appear  like  a  very  God.  And  when  you 
realize  that  he  is  a  creature  who  walks  by  sight 
and  reason,  it  would  look  as  though  he  had  ful- 
filled the  Devil's  suggestion,  made  good  the 
Devil's  pledge,  attained  to  the  role  of  ruler- 
ship  divine,  and  become  an  actual  God. 

But  his  achievements  are  one-sided. 

They  are  all  on  the  side  of  nature,  and 
nature  alone.  In  not  a  single  instance  is  it 
on  the  side  of  nature's  God.  Today,  he  knows 
more  about  molecular  action  than  at  any  time 
since  his  fall ;  but,  concerning  the  God  who  is 
behind   molecular  action,   he   knows   nothing 


72  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

at  all.  Take  up  the  last  and  most  scientifically 
stated  definition  of  God,  and  it  is  the  most 
conclusive  evidence  of  his  abysmal  ignorance 
and  the  mental  gulf  between  them.  Indeed, 
in  proportion  as  man  makes  advances  in  scien- 
tific knowledge,  the  farther  away  does  the  idea 
of  a  personal  God  recede  from  him,  and  his 
most  scientific  statement  is,  that  God  does  not 
exist. 

By  wisdom  he  knows  not  God. 

He  knows  good  and  evil. 

Yea,  he  knows  the  good  he  should  do,  and 
knows  he  cannot  do  it.  He  knows  the  evil 
he  should  shun,  and  knows  he  cannot  shun  it. 
He  knows  the  problem  of  good  and  evil  and 
cannot  solve  it.  With  the  highest  civilization, 
he  carries  the  burden  of  co-ordinate  crime.  He 
spends  mfllions  to  repress  that  crime,  and  like 
a  black,  foul  immeasurable  flood,  it  breaks  over 
every  dyke  and  pervades  the  land. 

He  assembles  his  congresses  to  discuss  pen- 
ology and  brings  forth  propositions  that  might 
well  make  angels  weep.  He  would  demon- 
strate that  evil  is  local,  personal,  and  may  be 
cured.  To  bring  about  this  cure,  he  would 
turn  his  prisons  into  school  houses,  factories, 
shops,  art  studios  and  literary  bureaus.  He 
would  make  the  congenitally  depraved,  the  en- 
vironment villain,  the  sinner  by  suggestion, 
and  the  lawless  lawbreaker,  to  feel  honored 
and  not  punished  by  his  prison  sojourn.  He 
would  have  him  look  upon  that  prison  as  the 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  DEVIL's  LIE  73 

forcing  house,  so  to  speak,  the  incubator,  of 

inhering  divinity  until,  step  by  step,  the  essen- 
tial and  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin,  is  lost, 
and  punishment  becomes  the  badge  of  distinc- 
tion, and  not  the  brand  of  shame. 

He  knows  not  God.  He  cannot  grapple  with 
the  problem  of  evil.  He  cannot  govern  him- 
self. He  has  tried  every  form  of  government 
and  failed  in  all.  With  a  world  packed  with 
plenty  and  room  enough  for  every  man  and 
woman  to  have  a  home,  it  is  the  few  who  live 
in  luxury  and  the  many  who  are  pinched  by 
want.  With  multiplied  inventions,  with  extend- 
ed knowledge,  has  come  increased  dissatisfac- 
tion and  ever  widening  unrest.  Never  since  the 
world  began  were  the  peoples  in  such  commo- 
tion. Knowledge  has  increased  and  many  run 
to  and  fro.  The  whole  world  is  on  the  move, 
like  waves  of  the  sea  that  lash  each  shore,  fly- 
ing over  the  land  at  incredible  speed,  climbing 
the  mountains,  crossing  the  oceans,  plunging 
into  this  affair  or  that.  Each  day  new  schemes 
are  devised,  new  plans  arranged,  to  be  thrown 
aside  for  something  newer  still.  There  is  fever 
in  the  veins,  there  is  nothing  abiding.  Call- 
ing the  Twentieth  Century  the  bloom  of  civili- 
zation and  the  highest  expression  of  human 
genius,  the  security  of  that  civilization  and 
its  hope  for  tomorrow,  rest  upon  cannon  and 
gunpowder  as  the  only  foundation.  Each  day, 
as  civilization  advances,  armies  are  multiplied 

on  land  and  Dreadnaughts  on  the  s^, 


74  THE  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

In  the  exact  proportion  as  the  light  of  man's 
knowledge  increases,  his  spiritual  darkness 
deepens,  and,  at  the  very  moment  when  he 
would  reach  out  for  the  sceptre  of  continued 
power,  he  stumbles,  and  falls  into  the  grave, 
a  pitiable  pile  of  breathless  dust,  leaving  carved 
upon  his  tomb  the  interrogation  point  which 
the  Devil  bequeathed  him  at  the  beginning  as 
his  armorial  bearing  and  device.  Beginning 
life  with  a  question  thrust  into  his  soul,  ask- 
ing questions  through  all  the  days  of  his  years, 
he  goes  out  of  the  world  with  a  question  on 
his  lips,  and  no  answer  to  his  crying.  With 
all  his  wit  and  wisdom  he  passes  on,  and  the 
dead  thing  called  his  body  and  which,  while 
he  lived,  seemed  to  be  all  of  him,  becomes  the 
self  mocking  witness  that  he  aimed  at  God- 
head's throne  and  found  a  brute  beast's  grave. 

And  thus,  when  the  Devil  in  that  far  Eden 
time,  whispered  in  man's  soul  that  he  should 
be  as  God,  and  that  by  virtue  of  his  own  rea- 
son and  self  resource,  he  told  the  great  lie. 
Well  did  the  Son  of  God  say  of  him : 

"He  was  a  murderer  (a  man-killer)  from 
the  beginning,  and  abode  not  in  the  truth,  be- 
cause THERE  IS  NO  TRUTH  in  him.  When 
he  speaketh  a  lie,  he  speaketh  of  his  own:  for 
he  is  a  liar,  and  the  father  of  it."    John.  8 :44. 

He  told  a  lie  and,  by  reason  of  that  lie, 
brought  death  upon  man  and,  in  this  fashion, 
became  the  actual  murderer  of  man. 

For  six  thousand  years  the  world  has  paid 


l^ftOGRESS  OF  THE  DEVIL^S  LIE  ^5 

the  awful  price  of  listening  to  that  lie.  Every 

pain  of  body,  every  sigh  and  every  tear,  and 
the  grave  that  is  dug  at  last,  these  are  the 
consequences  of  that  lie ;  and  still,  the  world 
loves  it  and  applauds  it  whenever  told.  So 
fascinating  has  that  lie  become ;  so  thoroughly 
is  it  in  the  blood,  that  each  day  man  insists 
upon  its  truth  and  would  have  it  taught  to 
his  children  and  his  children's  children. 

The  immense  progress  which  this  lie  is  mak- 
ing may  be  seen  in  the  trend  of  modern  teach- 
ing as  illustrated  in  our  schools,  our  colleges, 
and  universities.  It  is  here  it  finds  its  great- 
est emphasis,  its  most  active  apostles;  from 
hence  it  goes  forth  to  propagate,  pervade,  and 
fill  the  earth  until  all  the  sons  of  men  are 
charmed  and  fascinated  as  though  a  serpent 
held  them  with  its  subtle  gaze  and  hypnotized 
them  with  its  interpenetrating  sounds. 

The  basis  of  modern  college  and  university 
training  is  evolution — a  finding  in  nature  all 
the  forces  which  account  for  creation,  and  see- 
ing in  man  the  highest  outcome  of  these  forces. 

Beginning  with  the  lowest  form  of  life,  all 
forces  work  on  and  upward  to  man.  Man 
comprehends  within  himself  all  the  forces  that 
have  gone  before.  His  personality  is  their 
product.  So  far  as  investigation  goes  he  is 
the  only  personality  in  the  universe.  Nature's 
forces  having  evoked  this  personality  are  now 
ready  to  submit  themselves  to  its  investigation 
and  domination.    In  creating  man,  nature  has 


/b  THE  siCNs  OF  The  Times 

created  her  own  God.  Henceforth  man's  com- 
plete rule  and  domination  over  matter  will 
be  only  a  question  of  time.  The  laws  of  na- 
ture do  not  change,  they  are  fixed.  The  only 
thing  which  can  change  and  develop  is  man's 
intelligence.  As  this  intelligence  increases  by 
its  use,  man  will  know  how  to  deal  with  law 
and  force,  and  so  apply  them  to  his  uses  that 
he  will  be  enthroned  above  them.  It  may  take 
time.  It  has  taken  time,  but  his  intelligence 
is  now  unfettered  as  it  never  was  before. 
Through  long  ages  it  was  held  in  the  swaddling 
bands  of  fear  and  superstition;  his  fear  and 
superstition  gave  occasion  for  the  founding 
of  those  religions  which  imposed  upon  him, 
and  held  him  in  leash.  He  has  broken  loose. 
With  the  last  half  century  he  has  thrown  aside 
his  chains  and  stood  erect;  as  a  consequence, 
the  mightiest  revolution  in  the  realm  of  ap- 
plied science  has  come  within  these  later  years. 
When  he  has  liberated  his  intelligence  com- 
pletely, he  will  be  in  a  position  to  dictate 
terms  to  nature's  forces  and  out  of  them  build 
the  throne  of  his  final  domination.  It  will  take 
time,  it  is  true,  but,  it  is  only  a  question  of 
time. 

Accept  this  proposition  and  the  moral  re- 
sults are  inevitable. 

To  such  a  man  there  can  be  but  one  infal- 
lible text-book — nature  herself.  Hence,  to  the 
scientific  man,  who  looks  upon  himself  as  the 
nroduct  of  evolution  and  not  the  fiat  creation 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   DEVIL*S   LIE  77 

of  a  personal  God— the  Bible  must  go.  To  keep 
it  would  be  to  tie  a  millstone  about  the  doc- 
trine of  evolution. 

Either  the  Bible  or  evolution  must  go. 
But  much  more  even  than  this !  As  nature 
is  the  text-book  and  man  the  infallible  inter- 
preter—and man  is  the  supreme  personality, 
then  he  is,  and  must  be,  a  law  unto  himself. 
Admit  this,  admit  that  evolution  must  carry 
him  on  to  his  destiny,  it  follows  that  the  past 
cannot  coerce  or  control  him;  no  laws,  no 
concept  made  yesterday  can  have  their  vogue 
today.  Given  evolution  and  man  as  the  high- 
est outcome,  he  must,  more  and  more,  feel  that 
he  is  a  law  unto  himself,  his  own  arbiter  and 
must,  more  and  more,  demand  freedom  from 
all  temporary  standards  of  moral  or  religious 
restraint. 

As  he  passes  on  and  enters  into  new  condi- 
tions, there  must  be  new  standards.  The  stan- 
dard of  morals  fit  for  a  hundred  years  ago 
will  not  fit  tomorrow.  As  he  advances  to  the 
heights  of  individual  freedom,  he  will  see  that 
the  restraints  that  have  been  put  upon  the 
body  and  mind  of  men  and  women  in  the  past 
were  due  to  ignorance  and  superstition.  He 
will  say  that  the  world  is  his;  all  things  are 
his ;  likewise  all  his  endowments  are  his.  Each 
man  and  each  woman  has  the  inalienable  right 
to  the  freest  and  fullest  exercise  of  those  en- 
dowments, and  any  standard  which  interferes 
with  this  personal  liberty,  use  and  gratifica- 


78  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

tion,  is  out  of  place  in  the  widening  world  into 
which  he  is  slowly  coming  as  his  own. 

Such  a  trend  means,  sooner  or  later,  the 
repudiation  of  all  religions  which  set  up  a  su- 
preme God,  all  faith  which  claims  an  infallible 
Bible,  and  all  standards  of  morals  which  fix 
a  definite  line  of  character,  or  limit  the  exer- 
cise of  the  personal  volition.  In  short,  the 
trend  of  modern  education  is  to  deny  the  Bible, 
the  Christ  of  God,  and  the  God  of  Christ. 

As  evidence  of  the  trend  in  modern  teach- 
ing, listen  to  the  utterance  of  some  of  the  lead- 
ing educators  of  this  country : 

"The  welfare  of  the  world,"  says  one,  "de- 
pends upon  the  spirit  of  man,  and  not  upon 
the  paternal  love  of  a  non-resident  God." 

Another  professor  in  a  great  university  says : 

"The  least  creature  of  all  mortals  has  more 
dignity  and  value  than  even  an  Almighty  God, 
as  that  being  is  popularly  conceived,"  and,  of 
course,  by  this  "popular"  concept  is  meant 
the  concept  which  comes  from  the  Bible. 

One  professor  with  great  earnestness  tells 
us  that, 

"Whiskey,  cocaine,  and  alcohol,  bring  tem- 
porary insanity,  and  so  does  a  revival  of  re- 
ligion— one  of  the  religious  revivals  in  which 
men  lose  their  reason  and  self-control.  This 
is  simply  a  form  of  drunkenness  no  more 
worthy  of  respect  than  the  drunkenness  that 
lies  in  the  gutter." 

A  third  declares: 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   DEVIL*S   LIE  79 

"Religious  revivalism  is  a  social  bane.  It 
is  more  dangerous  to  the  life  of  society  than 
drunkenness.  As  a  sot,  man  falls  below  the 
brute — as  a  revivalist,  he  sinks  lower  than  the 
sot." 

This  is  saying  that  such  men  as  Wesley, 
Whitefield,  and  Moody — all  men  who  have  ex- 
alted the  God  of  righteousness,  set  forth  the 
Christ  as  the  alone  v/ay,  the  truth  and  the  life, 
and  exhorted  men  to  turn  from  sin,  iniquity 
and  vice,  by  giving  themselves  over  to  the 
mastery  of  a  risen  and  Holy  Lord,  were  worse 
than  drunken  sots.  It  is  saying  that  every 
man  who  seeks  to  lift  men  out  of  the  slough 
and  shame  of  sin  into  co-ordinate  life  and  fel- 
lowship with  this  holy  and  living  Christ,  is 
below  the  filthiness  of  the  brute  beast  of  a 
drunken  sot  who  wallows  in  the  mire  of  the 
gutter  and,  in  his  drunkenness,  prides  himself 
upon  the  same  advanced  unbelief  as  that  of 
the  superior  professor  who  so  describes  him. 

One  eminent  professor  announces  that  New 
England  became  worthless  when  the  Puritans 
ceased  to  drink  strong  drink. 

It  is  this  professor  who  is  the  author  of 
the  epigram  that, 

"New  England  has  ice  water,  but  no  art." 

And  this  is  the  teaching  of  another  before 
his  class: 

"The  religious  hosannah  is  the  outcome  of 
a  religious  orgy." 

One  well  known  woman  professor  teaches 


80  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

her  students  that  the  stories  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment are  myths  and  fables,  and  that  the  New 
Testament  record  of  the  virgin  birth  of  Christ 
is  of  no  serious  value. 

One  advanced  instructor  teaches  openly 
that  marriage  is  not  divine,  that  men  and 
women  are  not  joined  together  by  any  decree 
of  God.  Marriage  is  a  simple  contract,  and, 
like  any  other  business  contract,  may  be 
broken  at  mutual  will.  Divorce  is  legitimate, 
and  may  be  a  means  of  righteousness.  In- 
deed, some  teachers  go  so  far  as  boldly  to  de- 
clare that  incest  is  not  contrary  to  the  laws 
of  nature,  or  disapproved  by  any  fanciekl 
ordinance  of  God. 

Thus  the  trend  in  college  and  university 
thought  as  expressed  by  some  of  its  leading 
and  most  representative  teachers  and  think- 
ers is,  that  man  is  the  avatar  of  God  and,  in- 
creasingly, has  the  right  to  break  down  all 
laws  and  legislation  which  hinder  the  evo- 
lution and  exaltation  of  the  supreme  person- 
alism  in  man. 

In  this  way,  every  day,  thousands  of  the 
young  men  and  women  of  the  land  are  be- 
ing led  to  repudiate  the  God  of  the  Bible  and 
the  standards  of  the  Bible.  Thousands  of  the 
very  flower  of  our  youth  are  being  taught  in- 
sidiously to  set  aside  every  law  and  pre- 
cept which  does  not  give  full  and  personal 
liberty,  and  are  being  led  to  believe  Uhat 
they  are  in  themselves  as  the  throne  of  God 
and  the  final  tribunal. 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   DEVIL*S    LIE  81 

The  moral  consequences  of  all  this  are 
sure. 

It  means,  sooner  or  later,  the  total  repudia- 
tion of  the  Christianity  of  Christ  and  the 
Bible  by  the  educated  classes,  and  the  setting 
up  in  the  name  of  psychology  of  a  religion 
of  actual  materialism,  cultivated  license,  and 
the  self-satisfied  proclamation  that  man  is 
God. 

It  is  the  old  whispered  lie  of  the  Devil, 

"Ye  shall  be  as  gods." 

Thus  far  has  the  Devil's  lie  progressed. 

It  has  led  man  to  attempt  to  reach  by  his 
own  unaided  effort,  the  throne  and  dominion 
God  would  have  given  him  in  full  receipt  for 
simple  faith.  It  has  led  him  to  cultivate  and 
develop  the  powers  which  God  placed  in  him 
and  which,  if  he  had  not  fallen,  would  have 
required  no  long  ages  slowly  and  inadequately 
to  reveal ;  powers  which,  in  his  fellowship 
with  God  and  in  a  body  that  would  have  be- 
come immortal,  would  have  enabled  him  to 
achieve  results  which  the  highest  attainment 
of  science  can  never  more  than  hint,  which 
the  Christ  of  God  has  outlined  in  his  own 
miraculous  deeds;  and  the  power  of  which 
he  bequeaths  to  those  who  are  his,  in  com- 
ing days;  assurance  whereof  is  given  in  that 
wide  reaching  assertion  wherein  he  says  that 
he  is  going  to  the  Father,  and  because  he  is 
going  to  the  Father  as  their  forerunner  (as 
the  guaranty  that  they   shall   be   like   him) 


82  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

thiey  shall  do  greater  works  than  even  he  did 
while  on  the  earth :  tlie  guaranty  that  in  the 
coming  days  of  their  immortality  they  shall 
manifest  powers  surpassing  what  he  revealed  in 
the  days  of  his  mortality.  But  man,  apart 
from  God,  and  without  this  genius  of  Christ, 
has  attempted  in  his  own  strength  to  reach 
the  outlines  of  God's  original  purpose  in  him, 
and  has  succeeded  only  so  far  as  to  make  it 
evident  that  he  never  can  attain. 

The  Devil's  lie  has  led  man  in  his  outreach 
for  the  throne  to  become  no  more  than  "an 
animal  working  with  tools,"  when  he  might 
have  been  long  ago  as  very  God  in  the  exercise 
of  a  power  where  to  will  and  to  do  should 
both  have  been  present ;  when  he  should  have 
commanded,  and  it  would  have  been  done ; 
when  his  intelligence  unclouded  by  sin,  and 
his  will  in  unbroken  union  with  God,  would 
have  been  the  unobstructed  channels  through 
which  the  supreme  God  of  the  universe  would 
have  found  infinite  joy  in  expressing  his  limit- 
less power. 

The  Devil's  lie  has  led  man  to  flatter  him- 
self in  his  own  eyes  and,  blinding  him  to  the 
call  of  eternity,  shuts  him  up  to  a  horizon 
of  time,  and  the  accumulated  dust  of  the 
crumbling  years. 

The  Word  of  God  teaches  that  the  Devil's 
lie  will  progress  in  the  world  till  it  finds  its 
culmination  in  the  exaltation  of  one  man 
above  all  other  men — a  man  who  will  claim 


PROCRESS   OF    ri-lE   DEVIL^S   LIE  6S 

to  be  God,  and  whose  claim  an  applauding 
world  will  willingly  allow.  A  man  who  shall 
be  head  and  shoulders  intellectually  above  the 
most  intellectual  of  men;  who  will  be  en- 
dowed with  the  most  extraordinary  powers; 
whose  ability  in  every  direction  will  be  so 
versatile  and  phenomenal  that  all  the  world 
will  wonder  after  him,  and  his  name  be  re- 
peated with  amazement  on  every  lip ;  a  man 
to  whose  profundity  of  thought  will  be  joined 
the  eloquence  of  tongue ;  to  whose  genius  of 
statesmanship  will  be  added  the  heroism  of  a 
soldier  and  the  prestige  of  a  conqueror;  a 
man  who  will  be  the  supreme  expert  in  all 
.^ociitihc  investigation;  wliu  will  be  posbcb^cd 

of  occult  as  well  as  philosophic  powers ;  who 
will  be  as  much  at  home  in  the  laboratory  as 
he  will  be  in  the  chair  of  dialectics.  His  knowl- 
edge will  sound  the  depths  of  the  unseen 
and  bring  forth  secrets  such  as  the  world  in 
its  wildest  imaginings  never  dreamed.  Ris- 
ing above  the  arts  of  the  mere  prestidigita- 
teur,  he  will  perform  deeds  in  the  name  of 
science  which  shall  seem  as  very  miracles ;  by 
his  power,  lifeless  images  and  pictures  shall  be 
made  to  speak,  fire  shall  be  made  to  come 
down  from  heaven,  and  by  reason  of  his 
inventions  the  earth  will  be  filled  with  won- 
ders. 

He  will  be  the  greatest  wealth  accumulator 
the  world  has  ever  known.  Midas-like,  every- 
iWmo:  he  touches  will  turn  to  <?old — his  invest- 


M  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

ments  will  return  him  the  income  of  kings. 
His  interests  will  be  world-wide  and  his 
operations  on  a  scale  that  will  allow  no  com- 
petition. All  business  will  eventuate  in  his 
control,  not  a  factory  can  open  its  doors, 
not  a  train  can  move  upon  its  tracks,  or  a 
ship  sail  upon  the  sea,  unless  he  wills.  All 
lines  of  operation  will  be  so  concentrated  in 
his  hands  that  he  can  at  ease  dictate  his  terms. 
He  can  make  peace  or  war,  set  up  kings  or  cast 
them  down.  He  will  play  politics  as  a  gambler 
plays  with  cards.  His  outgoings  and  incom- 
ings will  be  reported  every  hour,  his  speech, 
his  slightest  word,  his  acts,  will  form  the 
staple  of  the  world's  printed  and  reprinted 
news.  He  will  be  the  man  of  the  hour,  the 
man  in  whom  all  the  genius  of  the  race,  all 
the  ambition  of  the  sons  of  men,  will  find 
their  highest  and  most  forceful  expression. 

He  will  set  the  fashion  of  the  hour.  What- 
ever he  may  do  will  be  the  vogue.  Wholly 
a  scientist  and  yet,  a  mystic,  he  will  dictate 
the  mental  and  religious  attitude  of  men. 
Laughing  at  the  thought  of  a  "non-resident 
God,"  and  filling  his  lips  with  the  most  as- 
tounding blasphemy  against  the  old  faith,  his 
open  and  scientific  infidelity  will  be  regarded 
as  the  highest  wisdom,  the  profoundest  scholar- 
ship, and  the  only  standard  to  follow. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  paints  his  portrait 
when  he  says : 

He  "shall  come  in  his  own  name."  John. 
S:43. 


iPROGRESS   OF   THE   DEVIl's   LIE  85 

Paul  identifies  him  when  he  writes  to  the 
Thessalonians : 

"Who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  above 
all  that  is  called  God*  *  *  *showing  himself 
that  he  is  god."    2  Thessalonians.  2 : 4. 

Nor  is  it  at  all  difficult  to  conceive,  in  view 
of  the  trend  of  modern  scholastic  thought,  how 
such  a  culmination  might  come  to  the  world, 
and  come  to  it  unconsciously. 

According  to  the  latest  statement  of  As- 
tronomy, this  earth  of  ours  is,  practically,  in 
the  center  of  the  stellar  universe.  In  the  mak- 
ing of  worlds  our  planet  has  been  placed  where 
it  could  best  develop  and  sustain  life.  So  far, 
research  has  shown  it  to  be  the  only  habitable 
world.  As  a  consequence,  man  is  the  only 
real  personal  inhabitant  of  the  universe.  As 
such,  therefore,  he  is  the  supreme  personality 
in  it.  If  it  be  true,  that  nature  in  working 
out  her  multiform  forces  has  from  the  be- 
ginning been  working  to  produce  man  as  its 
ultimate  and  highest ;  if  it  be  true,  that  matter 
is  the  great,  original  matrix,  and  that  every 
form,  every  motion,  and  all  force,  had  in  them 
the  prophecy  of  man;  if  it  be  true,  that  the 
image  of  man  lay  concealed  in  every  atom,  and 
through  the  long  ages  of  evolution  the  small- 
est mite,  the  most  insignificant  force,  and  the 
frailest  life  germ,  were  all,  each  in  its  own 
way,  working  out  on  this  model ;  if  it  be  true, 
that  man  is  the  universe  itself,  at  last  to  come 
to  personality  as  its  head,  then  man,  consid- 


86  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

ered  collectively,  is  the  God  of  the  universe, 
and  each  individual  man  is  in  greater  or  less 
degree  a  personal  God. 

Admit  this,  and  it  becomes  evident  that  the 
man  who  is  endowed  above  his  fellows,  is  a 
super-man  (and  there  have  appeared  in  the 
world  from  time  to  time  men  who,  by  their 
extraordinary  and  phenomenal  endowment, 
have  been  so  far  above  their  fellows  that  they 
might  be  well  called  super-men,  subliminal 
men)  ;  admit  the  existence,  in  a  coming  day,  of 
a  man  who  is  in  every  department  of  human 
endowment  beyond  all  comparison  superior  to 
any  other  man  in  the  world,  by  what  law  of 
logic  shall  it  be  denied  that,  as  all  men  are 
more  or  less  God,  this  man,  supreme  to  all 
men,  is  not  a  supreme  God,  and  worthy  the 
acclamation  and,  at  least,  mental  worship  of 
all  other  men? 

And  this  tendency  to  acclaim  and  exalt  one 
man,  even  though  it  be  but  for  a  time,  is 
manifesting  itself  more  and  more  each  day 
in  the  increased  emphasis  of  what  is  familiar- 
ly known  as  "hero  worship." 

From  the  beginning  of  time  the  world 
has  always  been  in  search  of  a  hero; 
whether  it  were  a  Nimrod,  the  mighty 
hunter,  a  Caesar  or  an  Alexander; 
whether  it  be  in  the  realm  of  government,  of 
art,  of  literature,  or  science,  everywhere,  the 
crowd  is  seeking  some  one  man  that  it  may 
exalt,  follow  and  applaud  him.     Let  a  man 


PROGRESS   OF    THE    DEVIL's    LIE  87 

with  his  millions  appear  in  public,  the  multi- 
tude will  turn  aside  to  look  at  him,  follow  him, 
and  set  him  in  a  place,  unconsciously,  above 
themselves ;  they  are  drawn  to  him  by  the 
gravitation  of  the  superior  power  which  he 
represents.  Let  the  man  be  an  author  of  re- 
pute, a  singer,  a  dramatist,  a  statesman,  or  an 
orator,  the  crowd  will  gather  to  do  him  hom- 
age, the  homage  that  owns  a  superior  endow- 
ment. Nor  is  the  crowd  always  particular  who 
he  is  or  what  he  has  done,  so  that  his  doing  is 
out  of  the  ordinary  and  represents  its  own  par- 
ticular superiority.  Not  long  ago  one  of  the 
great  thoroughfares  of  New  York  was  com- 
pletely blocked,  and  traffic  stopped,  by  a  surg- 
ing, swelling  mass  of  humanity,  men,  women, 
children,  people  of  every  grade  of  life,  from 
the  banker  to  the  gamin,  that  they  might  see 
a  colossal  black  man  step  out  of  a  railway 
station ;  gathered  there  from  all  quarters  of 
the  busy  city  that  they  might  look  upon  him 
and  applaud  him,  because  he  had  proved  him- 
self in  the  arena  of  a  prize  fight  to  be  a  more 
enduring  brute  than  the  white  man  who  was 
opposed  to  him.  For  days  previous  to  the 
demoralizing  spectacle,  the  spectacle  of  two 
men  seeking  to  mar  each  other,  even  at  the 
risk  of  a  blow  of  death,  the  whole  world,  by 
means  of  correspondence,  a  press  subsidized 
by  the  promise  of  popularity,  wireless  teleg- 
raphy, pen  and  pencil,  was  kept  informed  of 
the   doings   of   these   two   men.     They   were 


88  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

the  physical  and  muscular  heroes  of  the  hour, 
and  countless  thousands  felt  themselves  drawn 
towards  them  by  that  strange  attraction  which 
makes  a  super-man,  in  any  direction,  seem  like 
a  God  to  his  lesser  fellows.  When  a  foot- 
ball player  wins  for  his  college,  or  a  boat's 
crew  reaches  the  winning  mark,  thousands  are 
ready  to  press  forward  and  take  the  victor 
on  their  shoulders  and  crown  him  as  the  hero 
of  the  hour.  The  other  day  when  a  French 
aviator  came  in  as  the  winner  in  a  long  dis- 
tance race,  he  was  greeted  by  the  shouts,  the 
wild  applause,  and  the  actual  delirium  of 
two  hundred  thousand  frenzied  men  and  wo- 
men who  exalted  his  name  and  fame  and 
would,  had  there  been  a  throne  at  hand,  have 
placed  him  upon  it  and  crowned  him,  for  the 
moment  at  least,  as  the  God  of  the  upper 
air. 

The  feeling  inherent  in  man  that  he  ought 
to  be  as  God  leads  him  to  exalt  and  practi- 
cally deify  every  man  who  rises  above  him- 
self, seeing  in  that  man  the  representation 
and  expression  of  himself,  and  finding  in  him 
the  ground  and  reason  for  his  own  exalta- 
tion; by  a  law  of  reciprocity,  he  gives  ap- 
.  plause  to  the  superior  man  that  he  may  re- 
ceive the  comfort  in  himself  that  he  too  is 
of  the  genus  divine.  The  culmination  of  the 
Devil's  lie  in  a  man  in  whom  the  world  will 
see  its  highest  concept  of  God,  whom  the  world 
will  proclairn  and  own  as  such,  though  it  may 


PROGRESS   OF    THE    DEVIL*S    LIE  8') 

call  him  simply  a  great  man,  the  momentary 
hero,  is,  not  only  the  logical  outcome  of  the 
present  trend  of  scholastic,  scientific,  and 
philosophic  thought ;  not  only  the  trend  of  the 
natural  man  in  every  direction — it  is  the  clear 
and  unmistakable  announcement  of  the  Word 
of  God. 

Paul  calls  him  "the  man  of  sin,  the  son  of 
perdition,  the  lawless  one." 

John  says, 

"He  is  ANTICHRIST." 

This  progress  of  the  Devil's  lie  then,  is  a 
startling  sign  of  the  times. 

The  Apostle  Paul  in  his  epistle  to  the  Thes- 
salonians  tells  us  that  before  this  culmination 
in  Antichrist  takes  place,  the  church  will  be 
translated  from  the  world  to  meet  a  secretly 
descending  Lord. 

He  says: 

"Ye  know  what  withholdeth  that  he  might 
be  revealed  in  his  time. 

For  the  mystery  of  iniquity  (lawlessness) 
doth  already  work;  only  he  who  now  letteth 
(withholdeth,  hindcreth)  will  let,  until  he  be 
taken  out  of  the  way."    2  Thessalonians.  2 :7. 

The  mystery  of  lawlessness  is  the  Devil's 
He  working  out  to  its  culmination  in  the  super- 
man, whom,  in  the  next  verse,  Paul  calls, 
"that  Wicked,"  in  the  Greek,  ho-anomos,  "The 
Lawless  One,"  none  other  than  the  man  of 
sin,  the  Antichrist. 

There  is,  says  the  Apostle    a  person   who 


90  THE  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

holds  him  back,  "he  who  now  letteth,"  that  is, 
hinders,  withholds.  This  person  hinders  his 
manifestation ;  for  the  present,  is  a  barrier  to 
his  revelation.  So  long  as  this  person  con- 
tinues to  hinder,  the  Devil's  lie  cannot  attain 
to  its  full  culmination. 

In  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  no  mere 
human  personality  can  keep  back  this  culmina- 
tion ;  on  the  contrary,  all  human  agencies 
are  seeking  night  and  day  to  bring  it  about. 
There  is  only  one  person  in  the  world,  to- 
day, who  can  successfully  exercise  that  hin- 
dering power;  that  person  is  the  Holy  Spirit 
— as  it  is  written  : 

"When  the  enemy  [that  Lawless  One]  shall 
come  in  like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
shall  lift  up  a  standard  against  him."  Isaiah. 
59:19. 

The  Apostle  says  that  this  Spirit,  who  is 
none  other  than  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  to  be  taken 
away  from  the  earth;  and  that  when  he  is  so 
taken  away,  then, 

"Shall  that  wicked  [that  Lawless  One,  the 
Antichrist]  be  revealed."  2  Thessalonians.  2 :8. 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  in  the  world,  but  he  has 
a  particular  and  ordained  dwelling-place  in  the 
world.  That  dwelling-place  is  the  body  of 
the  individual  Christian,  as  it  is  written: 

"Your  body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
which  is  in  you,  which  ye  have  of  God."    1. 
Corinthians.  6:19. 
The  Holy  Spirit  dwells  individually  in  each 


PROGRESS   OF   THE    DEVIL's    LIE  9l 

Christian  and,  therefore,  in  the  whole  church. 
He  dwells  in  the  church  as  the  body  of  Christ, 
informing  and  filling  it.  To  take  away  the 
Holy  Spirit  from  the  world  must  mean  one 
of  two  things,  either  to  take  the  Holy  Spirit 
out  of  the  Christian  and  out  of  the  church, 
leaving  them  in  the  world  without  power  to 
meet  the  culminating  crisis  of  the  Devil's  He; 
or,  else,  it  means  to  take  the  Holy  Spirit  out 
of  the  world  by  taking  the  church  as  his  dwells 
ing  place  out  of  the  world,  and  at  the  same 
time. 

To  separate  the  Holy  Spirit  from  the  Chris- 
tian is  not  possible.  David  might  cry,  "take 
not  thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me,"  but  the  Chris- 
tian has  no  need  to  offer  such  prayer;  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  in  him  as  the  seal  and  abiding 
guaranty  of  the  day  of  redemption  when  he 
shall  be  delivered  from  mortality  and  clothed 
in  the  outward  as  well  as  moral  likeness  of  his 
Redeemer ;  for  it  is  written : 

"The  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  whereby  ye  are 
sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption."  Gala- 
tians.  4:30. 

And  again: 

"Ye  were  sealed  with  that  Holy  Spirit  of 
promise. 

Which  is  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance  un- 
til the  redemption  of  the  purchased  possession, 
unto  the  praise  of  his  glory."  Ephesians.  1 :13. 

If  it  is  impossible  to  take  the  Holy  Spirit 
away  from  the  Christian  (and  it  is  impossible). 


92  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

in  the  nature  of  the  case  it  cannot  be  taken 
away  from  the  church.  The  Christian,  the 
church,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  are  bound  to- 
gether with  indissoluble  bonds.  In  order  to 
take  the  Holy  Spirit  out  of  the  world,  there- 
fore, the  church  and  every  individual  Chris- 
tian must  be  taken  out  at  the  same  time. 

The  culmination  of  the  Devil's  lie  and,  there- 
fore, the  revelation  of  Antichrist,  will  take 
place  when  the  church  is  translated  from  the 
world. 

That  the  church  will  be  translated,  snatched 
out  of  the  world  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  is  of  the  record;  for,  it  is  writ- 
ten: 

"The  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from 
heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the 
archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God:  and 
the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first: 

Then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain,  shall 
to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air:  so  shall  we  ever 
be  with  the  Lord."    1  Thessalonians.  4:16,  17. 

This  coming  of  the  Lord  for  his  church  will 
be  in  secret ;  in  secret  and  without  warning 
the  church  will  be  taken  away.  Thus  it  is 
written; 

"The  day  of  the  Lord  so  cometh  as  a  thief 
in  the  night."     1,  Thessalonians.  5:2. 

The  day  of  the  Lord  commences  in  the 
evening — the  evening  of  the  times — the  close 
of  t'-.c  r^-^.  This  age  is  the  church  age.  The 
be  caught  up  together  with  them  in  the  clouds, 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   DEVIL's    LIE  93 

close  of  this  age  is,  therefore,  the  taking  away 
of  the  church  out  of  this  age.  The  church, 
according  to  the  previous  chapter  is  to  be  taken 
away  by  the  descent  of  the  Lord  into  the  air. 
The  descent  of  the  Lord  into  the  air  then, 
will  be  the  end  of  this  age  and  the  beginning 
of  the  day  of  the  Lord.  As  the  day  of  the 
Lord  begins  with  an  action  like  that  of  a  thief, 
and  this  action  is  the  coming  of  the  Lord, 
then  the  coming  of  the  Lord  is  like  the  com- 
ing of  a  thief.  As  the  church  is  to  be  taken 
away  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  then  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Lord  in  taking  away  the  church 
is  like  the  action  of  a  thief.  A  thief  comes 
suddenly,  without  warning,  secretly,  quietly. 
The  advent  of  the  thief  is  not  known  till  he 
has  gone  and  the  treasure  with  him.  Just 
so,  the  Lord  is  coming  and,  secretly,  without 
warning,  will  snatch  away  the  church — ^the 
pearl  of  great  price — and  present  it  to  himself 
in  heaven.  Then  the  barrier  to  the  consum- 
mation of  the  Devil's  lie  will  be  gone. 

What  shall  we  say  to  these  things? 

What  can  we  say  but  that  the  present  prog- 
ress of  the  Devil's  lie  is  a  witness  that  we  are 
on  the  threshold  of  the  secret  and  imminent 
coming  of  the  Lord. 

What  less  can  we  say,  than  that  the  daily 
progress  of  the  lie  is  a  warning  that  the  cul- 
mination in  the  man  of  sin  is  at  hand,  and  that, 
as  the  Lord  has  promised  to  descend  and  take 
his  church  to  himself  before  that  culmination 


94  THE   SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES 

is  attained,  then  the  emphasis  upon  the  Lord's 
imminency  has  grown  intense,  and  is  echoing 
at  our  very  door. 

The  progress  of  the  Devil's  lie  is  a  start- 
ling sig«  of  the  times.  The  increasing  effort 
to  throw  off  all  faith  in,  and  all  obligation 
to,  the  living  God;  the  increasing  effort  to 
make  science  and  reason  the  levers  by  which 
man  may  lift  himself  into  the  supreme  domin- 
ion of  the  world ;  his  self  gratulation  over  as- 
cending power;  his  determination  to  consider 
himself  as  a  God:  these  things,  one  and  all, 
give  warning  that  the  day  of  the  Devil's 
temporary  triumph  comes  on  apace ;  warn  us, 
with  exceeding  great  and  solemn  warning, 
that,  at  any  moment,  the  Lord  himself  may 
descend  and  call  us  up  to  meet  him  at  the 
judgment  seat,  that  we  may  answer  to  our 
name  and,  as  Christians,  give  an  accounting 
for  our  deeds. 


JERICHO  THEOLOGY 

or 

The  Modern  Theological  College 

A  Menace  and  a  Peril 

to  the  Church 


Elijah  had  been  a  mighty  minister  of  God. 
He  had  faced  Ahab  the  wicked  king  of  Israel 
in  his  own  court,  and  had  delivered  to  him  the 
message  of  Jehovah  against  his  unrighteous- 
ness and  sin.  He  had  prayed  that  it  might 
not  rain,  and  the  heavens  had  become  brass 
till  the  land  of  Palestine  was  like  a  heap  of 
wind-blown  dust.  He  had  met  the  prophets 
of  Baal  on  Mount  Carmel  and  challenged 
them  to  the  test  of  fire  to  determine  whether 
Baal  was  God,  or  the  God  of  Israel ;  and 
when  the  offering  of  the  idolaters  in  spite 
of  all  their  cryings  remained  unconsumed 
by  any  fiery  response  on  the  part  of  their 
god,  he  had  prayed,  and  Jehovah  had 
answered,  fire  leaping  from  heaven  to  consume 
and  accept  his  offering.  He  had  put  the  four 
hundred  prophets  of  Baal  to  the  sword.  He 
prayed  again,  the  flood  gates  of  heaven  were 
opened  and  the  rain  came  as  a  benediction  to 
the  suffering  earth.  Later  he  had  stood  upon 
the  holy  mount.     God  sent  the  squadrons  of 


%  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

nature's  forces  wheeling  about  him.  The 
winds  swept  and  swirled  as  though  they 
would  bend  the  very  mountain  top,  there  came 
the  riving  of  the  rocks  beneath  him,  the  light- 
nings of  God  illumined  the  heavens,  the  thun- 
ders spoke  as  the  accents  of  his  power,  and 
then  in  a  still  small  voice  the  Lord  announced 
to  him  that  his  ministry  was  at  an  end,  bid- 
ding him  seek  Elisha  the  son  of  Shaphat  as 
his  successor. 

The  day  had  now  arrived  when  the 
Lord  would  take  up  Elijah  by  a  whirlwind 
into  heaven.  Elijah  and  Elisha  found  them- 
selves together  at  Gilgal.  Elijah  would  test 
Elisha  and  know  whether  there  was  genu- 
ine response  in  him  to  the  call  of  God.  He 
said  that  the  Lord  God  had  sent  him  to  Bethel, 
and  bade  Elisha  tarry  at  Gilgal  while  he  went 
forward.  Elisha  swore  by  the  Lord  and  the 
soul  of  Elijah  that  he  would  not  be  separated 
from  him. 

They  came  to  Bethel. 

At  Bethel  there  was  a  theological  institution 
known  as  the  school  of  the  prophets,  the  stu- 
dents were  known  as  the  sons  of  the  prophets. 
These  latter  came  forth  and  announced  to 
Elisha  that  the  Lord  that  day  would  take  away 
his  master.  He  replied  he  knew  it  and  bade 
them  hold  their  peace.  Elijah  would  test 
Elisha  again,  and  telling  him  that  the  Lord 
had  bidden  him  go  to  Jericho,  exhorted  him  to 


JERICHO   THEOLOGY  97 

remain  behind.  As  before,  Elisha  swore  he 
would  not  leave  him. 

They  came  to  Jericho. 

At  Jericho  there  was  another  theological  in- 
stitution known  as  the  school  of  the  prophets, 
and  a  body  of  students  known  as  the  sons  of 
the  prophets.  These  came  forth-  and  repeated 
the  warning  given  by  the  students  at  Bethel. 
To  them  Elisha  returned  the  same  answer. 

Again  Elijah  tested  Elisha.  The  Lord,  he 
said,  had  sent  him  to  Jordan,  let  Elisha  remain 
where  he  was.  Elisha  responded  with  the 
same  insistence,  he  would  not  leave  him. 

The  two  came  to  Jordan. 

Elijah  now  wrapped  his  mantle  together, 
smote  the  waters  hither  and  thither,  the  river 
opened  a  pathway  before  them,  together  they 
descended  and  passed  through  between  gleam- 
ing crystal  walls  to  the  other  side.  Elijah  in- 
quired of  Elisha  what  he  might  do  for  him 
before  he  was  taken  away.  Elisha  desired  that 
a  double  portion  of  the  prophet's  spirit  might 
rest  upon  him.  Elijah  recognized  that  this 
was  a  hard  thing.  It  afforded  him,  however, 
an  opportunity  to  make  a  final  test  of  his  suc- 
cessor. He  declared  that  if  Elisha  should  see 
him  when  he  was  taken  away  the  request 
would  be  granted,  not  otherwise.  Elijah  made 
that  test  for  he  knew  if  the  root  of  the  matter 
was  in  Elisha  his  gaze  would  be  fixed,  not  on 
the  earth,  but  on  heavenly  things. 

While  they  were  going  on  together,  sud- 


98  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

denly  Elijah  was  parted  from  his  companion 
and  swept  by  a  whirlwind  to  heaven.  Ehsha 
cried  out,  "My  father,  my  father!  the  chariot 
of  Israel,  and  the  horsemen  thereof." 

He  had  met  the  test ;  he  had  had  the  heaven 
gaze — he  saw  the  miracle. 

Then  he  rent  off  his  own  robe,  took  up  the 
mantle  of  Elijah  that  had  fallen  from  him, 
smote  the  waters  of  Jordan  and  said,  "W^ere 
is  the  Lord  God  of  Elijah?"  The  river  opened 
before  him  and  he  passed  through  to  the 
other  side.  The  theological  students  at  Jeri- 
cho who  had  stood  afar  off  when  the  two  men 
went  down  into  Jordan  came  forward  to  meet 
him  and  testified  that  they  were  sure  the 
spirit  of  Elijah  was  now  in  the  world  and  that 
it  was  resting  upon  Elisha ;  but  while  they  be- 
lieved the  spirit  of  Elijah  was  in  the  world 
they  did  not  believe  the  body  of  Elijah  was  in 
heaven.  They  were  sure  the  body  was  lying 
somewhere  on  the  rocks  of  the  mountain  or 
in  some  secluded  valley,  and  they  said  to  him : 

"Behold  now,  there  be  with  thy  servants 
fifty  strong  men;  let  them  go,  we  pray  thee, 
and  seek  thy  master ;  lest  peradventure  the 
spirit  of  the  Lord  hath  taken  him  up,  and  cast 
him  upon  some  mountain  or  in  some  valley." 
And  he  said: 

"Ye  shall  not  send." 

But  the  students  urged  and  insisted  to  such 
a  degree  that  the  body  of  Elijah  could  be 
found  on  the  earth;  they  were  so  anxious  to 


JERICHO    THEOLOGY  99 

demonstrate  that  the  body  of  Elijah  had  not 
gone  to  heaven  and  that,  in  reality,  Elijah 
himself  was  not  there,  that  Elisha  grew 
ashamed,  yielded  up  his  testimony  and  bade 
them  go. 

The  Theological  college  at  Jericho  there- 
fore sent  out  fifty  men,  and  for  three  days  they 
sought  the  body  of  Elijah  and  found  him  not. 

That  is  the  story. 

It  is  full  of  suggestions. 

1.  There  were  five  great  facts  in  this  clos- 
ing hour  of  Elijah's  ministry  which  ushered 
in  the  ministry  of  Elisha. 

These  five  facts  were : 

The  going  of  Elijah  down  into  Jordan. 

The  coming  up  of  Elijah  out  of  Jordan  in 
his  living  body. 

The  ascension  of  Elijah  in  that  living  body 
to  heaven. 

The  committal  of  the  mantle  of  Elijah  to 
Elisha. 

The  descent  of  the  spirit  of  Elijah  upon 
Elisha  in  a  double  instalment. 

These  five  great  facts  are  prophetic  symbols 
of  the  five  great  facts  in  the  ministry  of  the 
Son  of  God,  ushering  in  the  ministry  of  the 
Church.  To  begin  with,  the  very  name  of 
Elijah  is  prophetic.  It  signifies  God — the 
Lord.  It  sets  forth  him  who  is  the  second  per- 
son of  the  adorable  Trinity,  the  Son  of  Gad 
and  God  the  Son.  It  is  the  declaration  that  he 
would  come  into  this  world,  create  for  himself 


100  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

a  distinct  human  nature,  consisting  of  a  real 
body  and  a  rational  soul,  unite  it  to  his  eternal 
personality,  and  stamping  upon  it  the  seal  of 
divinit}^,  walk  through  the  earth  as  the  living 
God  enthroned  in  humanity. 

The  going  down  of  Elijah  into  Jordan  is  the 
going  down  of  the  Son  of  God  under  the  judg- 
ment of  the  cross. 

The  word  Jordan  signifies  judgment. 

On  the  cross  Jesus  died  not  as  a  martyr,  not 
as  one  who  came  ahead  of  his  time  and  was 
"torn  in  pieces"  by  the  whirling  wheel  of  the 
world's  evil ;  he  died  there  as  the  great  Crimi- 
nal of  the  universe,  as  one  who  was  made  sin, 
as  the  second  man  bearing  the  evil  that 
was  potentially  in  the  first  man.  On  that  cross 
the  wrath  of  God,  the  antipodes  of  light  to 
darkness,  of  truth  to  falsehood,  of  holiness  to 
sin,  of  God  to  the  devil,  swept  down  in  a  flood 
tide  of  billowing,  overwhelming  judgment.  A 
judgment  of  which  he  himself  speaks  antici- 
patively  through  the  lips  of  the  Psalmist  when 
he  cries,  "All  thy  waves  and  thy  billows  are 
gone  over  me."  It  was  that  judgment,  the 
agony  of  which  he  anticipatively  portrays 
through  the  lips  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah  where 
he  bursts  forth  in  his  lamentations,  "Is  it 
nothing  to  you,  all  ye  that  pass  by  ?  behold  and 
see  if  there  be  any  sorrow  like  unto  my  sorrow, 
which  is  done  unto  me,  wherewith  the  Lord 
hath  afflicted  me  in  the  day  of  his  fierce  anger. 
From  above  hath  he  sent  fire  into  my  bones 


JERICHO    THEOLOGY  101 

*  *  *  the  yoke  of  my  transgressions  is 
bound  by  his  hand  *  *  *  he  hath  made 
my  strength  to  fail."  It  was  that  moment  of 
which  the  Apostle  speaks  when  he  says,  "He 
hath  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us." 

If  you  want  to  see  Jordan  do  not  go  to  the 
margin  of  the  river  that  flows  by  Jericho — but 
there — outside  the  gates  of  Jerusalem.  Behold 
three  crosses,  fix  your  gaze  upon  the  center 
one,  contemplate  Him,  the  Crucified,  the  per- 
fect man,  the  sinless  Son,  the  suffering  substi- 
tute, swallowed  up  in  the  anguish  of  eternal 
judgment,  crying  out  till  the  heavens  turn 
black  and  the  earth  seems  to  reel — "My  God! 
My  God !  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?'' 

That  is  the  river  of  Jordan. 

And  just  as  that  river  of  Jordan  was  the 
terminus  ad  quern  in  the  earthly  ministry  of 
Elijah,  so  was  the  cross  of  Christ  the  terminus 
ad  quem  in  his  ministry.  Jesus  Christ  did  not 
come  into  the  world  to  live.  He  came  to  die. 
He  came  to  die  not  as  a  martyr,  but  as  the 
fulfilment  of  the  eternal,  covenant  purpose  of 
God,  as  a  penal  sacrifice,  a  sin-offering — as  a 
lamb  to  slaughter  led. 

The  going  up  of  Elijah  out  of  Jordan  alive 
in  his  body  is  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Not  a  resurrection  such  as  the 
modern  theologian  would  teach — a  resurrection 
in  the  spirit.  Who  ever  saw  a  dead  spirit? 
Only  that  which  can  die  can  be  raised  from  the 
dead.    The  body  alone  can  die,    The  body 


102  THE   srCNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

alone  can  be  raised  from  the  dead.  Resurrec- 
tion can  be  predicated  of  the  body  alone.  If 
men  are  determined  to  repudiate  the  bodily 
resurrection  of  Christ  let  them,  for  the  sake 
of  philological  decency  at  least,  cut  out  the 
word  "resurrection"  altogether. 

But  the  Spirit  of  God  allows  no  mis-chance 
about  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  It  paints  the 
scene  and  circumstances  of  that  resurrection. 
Look  at  him  in  that  little  room  on  the  Sunday 
night  after  he  has  risen  from  the  dead.  Hear 
how  he  exhorts  the  startled  disciples  who  are 
inclined  at  the  behest  of  their  natural  minds  to 
look  upon  him  as  a  spirit,  as  a  ghost.  Listen 
to  his  tremendous  statement,  "A  spirit  hath 
not  flesh  and  bones  as  ye  see  me  have !"  Mark 
how  he  shows  his  hands  and  his  feet  and  bids 
them  touch  him,  handle  him.  Mark  the  im- 
miense  climax  when  he  sits  down  at  the  table 
of  their  untouched  supper  and  eats  before 
them  broiled  fish  and  an  honey-comb.  There 
may  be  limitless  possibilities  of  spiritualization 
in  the  word  "fish,"  but  "broiled"  fish !  that  ad- 
jective falls  like  a  crushing  weight  on  any 
attempt  at  it. 

The  going  up  out  of  Jordan  in  the  body  is 
Elijah's  fore-picture  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  in  the  body  in  which  he  died. 

The  ascension  of  Elijah  into  heaven  is  the 
setting  forth  of  that  sublime  moment  when 
yonder   at   Bethany   Jesus   stepped   into  the 


JERICHO  THEOLOGY  103 

chariot  of  shekinal  glory  and  was  swept  up- 
ward to  the  heaven  of  heavens. 

Come  all  ye  romancers,  poets,  painters,  sing- 
ers, composers  of  music's  loftiest  score,  and 
portray  that  moment  when  the  Son  of  God 
went  upward  through  the  stellar  spaces  amid 
the  onlook  of  the  countless  hosts  of  angelic 
witnesses  to  the  throne  of  God. 

A  man  in  the  glory !  that  was  the  meaning  of 
Elijah's  ascension  in  his  living  body  to  heaven. 

A  man  in  the  glory!  that  is  the  immense 
fact  now. 

Jesus,  the  man  in  the  glory.  The  man  who 
once  walked  on  earth.  The  man  who  died  for 
men.  The  man  seated  yonder  on  the  highest 
throne  in  the  body  which  was  nailed  to  the 
tree. 

The  committal  of  Elijah's  mantle  to  Elisha. 

What  is  a  mantle  but  a  habit?  What  is  a 
habit  but  a  symbol  of  character  ?  When  Elisha 
went  forth  in  the  mantle  of  Elijah  he  was 
going  forth  representatively  in  the  character 
of  Elijah. 

Behold  the  truth !  Jesus  communicating  his 
life  and  character  to  the  Church. 

When  Elisha  went  forth  clothed  with  the 
mantle  of  Elijah  he  seemed  like  a  reincarna- 
tion of  Elijah. 

Behold  the  great  truth !  The  miracle  that 
has  been  taking  place  for  two  thousand  years 
under  our  eyes,  the  reappearance  of  Christ  in 
his    Church,    the    reappearance    of    Christ    in 


104  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

Christianity,  the  reappearance  of  Christ  in  the 
individual  Christian. 

The  reincarnation  of  Christ! 

That  is  what  the  mantle  of  Elijah  committed 
to  Elisha  means. 

The  Church  a  witness  that  while  Christ  in 
his  own  proper  body  is  on  the  throne,  he  is  in 
Spif it  in  the  Body  which  is  called  the  Church ; 
and  by  that  Spirit  in  the  individual  Christian, 
as  it  is  written:  "Christ  in  you  the  hope  of 
glory." 

The  descent  of  the  spirit  of  Elijah  upon 
Elisha — the  descent  of  the  spirit  of  a  man  in 
heaven  upon  a  man  on  the  earth ! 

Elisha  going  about  in  the  earth  under  the 
direction  of  a  man  in  the  heavens  !  Surely  this 
is  the  descent  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  to  the 
Church. 

The  Church  is  to  go  forth  to  the  world 
wearing  the  character  of  the  man  in  heaven, 
directed  and  governed  by  his  spirit. 

The  spirit  coming  upon  Elisha  in  a  double 
portion  or  instalment  is  the  two-fold  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  Holy  Ghost  was  given  in  a  two-fold 
way. 

On  the  day  our  Lord  rose  from  the  dead  he 
ascended  directly  to  heaven.  He  did  not  wait 
for  the  forty  days  to  elapse.  In  the  morning 
he  forbade  Mary  to  touch  him,  for  he  said,  "I 
am  not  yet  ascended  to  my  Father;  but  go 
to  my  brethren,  and  say  to  them,  I  am  ascend- 


JERICHO    THEOLOGY  105 

ing  unto  my  Father,  and  your  Father ;  and  to 
my  God  and  your  God."  In  the  evening  he 
permitted  his  disciples  to  touch  him.  In  the 
meantime  he  had  ascended  to  heaven  and  re- 
turned. Then  he  breathed  upon  them  and 
said,  "Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost." 

This  is  really  the  committal  of  the  mantle 
of  Elijah — this  is  regeneration.  Forty  days 
afterward  he  ascended  publicly  from  the  midst 
of  his  disciples.  This  two-iold  ascension  is  in 
fulfilment  of  the  typical  act  of  the  high-priest 
on  the  day  of  atonement  when  he  went  twice 
within  the  vail. 

The  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost  is  the  second  instalment  or  the 
doubling  of  the  portion  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  first  being  the  giving  of  the  Comforter, 
the  last  the  endowment,  the  Church  going  forth 
in  the  authority  and  power  of  the  man  in 
heaven,  in  the  authority  and  power  of  his 
spirit. 

The  cross,  resurrection,  ascension  to  and 
session  in  heaven,  regeneration  and  the  endue- 
ment  of  the  Spirit,  these  are  what  the  five  facts 
in  Elijah's  ministry  foretold;  and  these  five 
great  anti-typical  facts  in  the  history  of  Christ 
constitute  the  pentateuchal  ordination  of  the 
Church,  her  ordination  to  the  ministry  and 
service  of  Christ  on  earth. 

2.  The  theological  college  at  Jericho,  presi- 
dent, faculty  and  students,  accepted  the  pres- 
ence of  the  spirit  of  Elijah  in  the  world,  but 


106  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

repudiated  the  presence  of  the  living  body  of 
EHjah  in  heaven. 

In  this  the  Jericho  college  gave  a  fore-view 
of  the  attitude  of  some  theological  colleges 
to-day,  and  sets  forth  the  movement  of  the 
modern  theological  idea. 

The  modern  theologians  admit  the  presence 
of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  the  world. 

They  talk  a  great  deal  about  the  Spirit  of 
Christ. 

They  see  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  every  human 
being. 

The  Spirit  of  Christ  is  in  the  church  and  out- 
side of  the  church. 

The  Spirit  of  Christ  moves  in  varied  direc- 
tions. 

The  telegraph,  the  telephone,  wireless  teleg- 
raphy and  rapid  transit  are  the  results  of  the 
Spirit  of  Christ.  When  a  man  paints  a  great 
picture,  or  composes  a  wonderful  opera ;  when 
an  actor  portrays  a  character  to  the  very  life — 
these  have  been  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 

The  Spirit  of  Christ,  it  is  said,  is  filling  the 
world  with  righteousness.  Every  man  who  is 
good  and  honest  and  brave-hearted,  whether  he 
believes  in  Jesus  or  not,  is  inspired  and  led  by 
the  Spirit  of  Christ. 

The  Spirit  of  Christ  is  seeking  to  give  us 
woman's  suffrage;  it  is  raising  the  voice  of 
men  against  war  (  and  that  too  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  Jesus  himself  warns  us  that  until  he 
comes  back  to  the  world  there  will  be  wars 


JERICHO    IHEOLOGY  107 

and  rumors  of  wars),  it  is  calling  for  pure 
politics,  for  clean  municipalities ;  in  short, 
■everything  that  is  good  in  man,  all  civilization, 
all  education,  science,  philosophy  and  art; 
whatever  is  broadening  and  uplifting  man  on 
lines  of  self-development  is  the  Spirit  of 
Christ. 

An  examination  of  the  matter  will  show, 
however,  that  it  is  not  exclusively  the  Spirit  of 
Christ,  but  rather  the  Spirit  that  was  in  Christ. 
In  other  words  it  is  nothing  less  than  evolution 
under  a  taking  name.  It  is  the  old  doctrine 
of  Cain  come  to  town  again ;  it  is  offering  the 
fruits  of  the  earth,  man  bringing  out  the  best 
things  in  his  own  life  and  evolving  God-ward. 
It  is  the  devil's  lie  repeated  with  increased  ac- 
cent, "ye  shall  be  as  gods."  It  is  the  claim  that 
every  man  by  nature  is  really  a  Christ  of  God, 
a  son  of  the  Most  High;  and  that  he  is  ful- 
filling the  function  of  a  son  as  much  when  he 
invents  a  mowing-machine  as  when  he  lifts 
the  voice  of  prayer  or  walks  in  holiness  before 
his  God. 

But  while  the  modern  theologian  thus  glori- 
fies the  natural  spirit  in  man  as  the  Spirit  o\ 
Christ,  he  persistently  repudiates  the  thought 
that  Christ  himself  is  seated  in  a  living  body 
on  the  throne  of  God  in  heaven. 

To  him  such  an  idea  is  an  absurdity. 

The  Christ  he  preaches  never  rose  from  inc 
dead  in  the  body  in  which  he  died. 

The  Christ  he  preaches  has  no  body. 


108  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE   tiMES 

His  Christ  is  a  boneless  and  fleshless  Christ. 

His  Christ  is  an  immaterial  ghost. 

A  ghost  Christ!  that  is  the  Christ  of  the 
modern  theologian. 

Over  the  doors  of  some  modern  theological 
institutions  might  well  be  written  the  words, 
"The  Ghost  Christ." 

Over  the  pulpit  of  some  modern  preachers 
might  be  written  these  words,  "Preachers  of 
the  Ghost  Christ." 

3.  The  theological  college  at  Jericho  under- 
took to  explain  the  miraculous  disappearance 
of  Elijah's  body  on  rational  and  natural 
(grounds. 

Thev  were  influenced  undoubtedly  by  th» 
town  in  which  they  lived.  They  lived  in 
Jericho. 

Jericho  in  Scripture  signifies  the  world.  It 
is  the  symbol  of  all  that  is  unspiritual. 

To-day  the  new  is  as  the  old.  To-day  the 
advanced  theologian  seeks  to  explain  the  mi- 
raculous elements  in  the  story  of  Christ  on 
natural  grounds.  Let  me  give  you  an  illus- 
tration : 

It  was  a  class  in  New  Testament  Greek. 

The  subject  was  the  casting  out  of  the 
demons  from  the  man  \  ho  had  a  legion.  The 
story  was  read  how  the  man  came  to  Jesus  in 
rags  and  tatters  and  with  his  broken  fetters. 
In  answer  to  Jesus'  question  he  states  that  his 
name  is  Legion ;  that  many  demons  possessed 
him.    When  lesus  bids  them  come  out  of  the 


JERICHO  THEOLOGY  109 

man  they  beseech  him  that  he  will  not  send 
them  back  into  Hades  but  permit  them  to  go 
into  the  swine.  Jesus  permits  them,  they  enter 
the  swine  and  the  herd  rushes  down  the  hill- 
side into  the  lake  and  perishes. 

"Now,"  said  the  professor,  "gentlemen,  it  is 
our  duty  to  accommodate  this  story  to  modem 
thought.  We  must  give  it  modern  terminology. 
To  begin  with,  there  are  no  such  things  as 
demons.  No  one  is  obsessed  or  possessed  by 
the  disembodied  spirit  of  another.  The  man 
was  a  lunatic.  He  was  possessed  with  all  sorts 
of  wrong  and  troublesome  ideas.  Jesus  recog- 
nized this.  He  at  once  exercised  his  power  of 
calmness,  of  self-control.  He  spoke  in  a  kind 
but  firm  voice.  This  at  once  quieted  the  man 
and  he  yielded  to  the  influence  of  Jesus." 

A  persistent  member  of  the  class  spoke  up: 

"But,  professor,  do  you  mean  to  say  that  the 
thoughts  of  this  man  went  out  into  those  hogs 
and  led  them  to  commit  suicide?" 

There  was  a  pause.  Then  the  professor 
smiled  and  said: 

"My  dear  sir,  that  part  of  the  story  must  be 
interpreted  according  to  modern  thought.  This 
man  found  himself  suddenly  calmed  under  the 
quieting  influence  of  Jesus.  At  that  moment 
the  swine — for  some  unknown  reason — some 
sudden  fright,  no  doubt — of  their  own  accord 
rushed  into  the  lake.  The  man  was  still  in  a 
degree  under  the  motions  of  his  former  estate 
and  imagined  that  the  mad  rush  of  the  swine 


!  iO  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

had  something  to  do  with  his  deliverance. 
Perhaps  he  said  something  to  that  effect  after- 
wards, and  so  the  story  grew." 

At  another  time  the  subject  before  the  New 
Testament  class  in  Greek  was  that  moment 
when  Jesus  walked  on  the  water  and  Peter 
asked  permission  to  do  the  same ;  how  for  a 
moment  he  did  succeed  in  walking  on  the 
waves  but  when  he  saw  they  were  boisterous 
became  afraid,  began  to  sink  and  called  on 
Jesus  to  save  him. 

The  modern  professor's  explanation  was  the 
following : 

"Jesus  did  not  walk  on  the  water  at  all.  He 
was  walking  on  the  shore.  A  mist  rose  up  to 
about  the  height  of  his  knees.  To  those  on  the 
little  boat  it  looked  as  though  he  were  walking 
on  the  water." 

The  persistent  member  of  the  class  broke 
out: 

"But,  professor,  how  do  you  explain  the  fact 
that  Peter  walked  upon  the  water  and  then 
began  to  sink?" 

The  professor  smiled  the  calm  smile  of  as- 
sured authority  and  replied : 

"They  were  not  far  from  the  shore.  The 
water  was  shallow.  It  was  filled  with  long, 
sedgy  grass.  When  Peter  stepped  out  into  the 
water  this  long  floating  grass  in  a  measure 
held  him  up.  It  seemed  to  him  that  he  was  on 
the  waves.     Presently  he  lost  his  nerve,  he 


JERICHO    THEOLOGY  1  1  1 

began  to  slip  and  slide.  He  thought  he  was 
sinking  and  cried  out  for  help." 

No  matter  where  such  a  college  may  be, 
whether  in  New  York,  Chicago  or  New  Eng- 
land, it  is  a  Jericho  college.  The  theology  is 
Jericho  theology  and  the  professors  are  Jericho 
professors. 

They  are  influenced  by  the  Jericho  environ- 
ment ;  by  scientific  thought,  by  modernism. 

It  is  an  endeavor  to  bring  the  truth  of  God 
down  to  the  level  of  the  world's  atmosphere. 

It  is  a  systematic  endeavor  to  apologize  for 
the  professed  blunders  and  mistakes  of  the- 
Bible. 

It  is  a  cultured  effort  to  satisfy  the  infidelity 
of  the  hour  with  something  suited  to  its  palate. 

It  is  an  organized  effort  to  surrender  the 
church  of  Christ  to  the  world,  the  flesh  and 
the  devil. 

The  next  time  you  hear  a  preacher  telling 
his  audience  that  we  must  translate  the  the- 
ology of  the  New  Testament  into  modern 
terminology;  that  we  must  accommodate  our 
theology  to  the  scientific  spirit;  that  we  must 
bring  the  exposition  of  the  Bible  into  line  with 
the  twentieth  century  thought,  you  may  know 
that  you  are  listening  to  a  Jericho  preacher; 
no  matter  whether  he  is  native  born  or  im- 
ported, he  is  a  Jericho  preacher  from  a  Jericho 
college,  giving  you  Jericho  theology. 

4.  The  Jericho  theologians  became  so  urgent 
and  made  such  a  clamor  about  going  out  to 


112  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

prove  that  Elijah's  body  did  not  ascend  to 
heaven  that  Elisha  became  ashamed — and 
yielded  his  testimony  to  theirs. 

There  were  circumstances  which  combined 
to  produce  this  surrender. 

The  Jericho  theologians  had  the  prestige  of 
professed  scholarship  and  trained  mentality. 
They  had  erected  themselves  into  a  final  court 
of  judgment.  They  looked  with  the  same  con- 
tempt upon  a  worker  for  God  who  had  not 
passed  through  their  doors  as  a  West  Point 
graduate  does  upon  a  volunteer.  They  fixed 
the  interpretation  and  repudiated  everything 
and  everyone  who  did  not  go  along  with  their 
decision. 

Elisha  never  had  time  to  go  to  the  Jericho 
college.  The  Lord  called  him  from  the  field, 
the  furrow  and  the  plow,  and  bade  him  enter 
on  his  ministry  at  once.  When  therefore  the 
men  of  the  college  insisted  that  he  really  did 
not  know  what  he  was  talking  about;  that  he 
was  crassly  ignorant  in  proclsciming  such  a 
thing  as  that  the  body  of  a  man  was  living  i:i 
heaven  on  the  throne  of  God,  he  hesitated  ant! 
surrendered. 

The  modern  theologians  have  erected  them- 
selves into  a  court  of  final  judgment.  They 
look  with  a  feeling  of  easy  contempt  on  those 
who  have  not  passed  through  the  doors  of  their 
Alma  Mater.  They  set  up  the  standard  of 
exposition.  They  talk  continually  of  their  own 
scholarship.  ^  They  exploit   it  at  every  turn. 


JERICHO  THEOLOGY  1  1  3 

They  batter  the  ignorance  of  those  who  differ 
with  them.  Their  sacramental  phrase  is, 
"Scholarship  is  agreed."  To  Hsten  to  them 
one  might  well  believe  that  when  they  die 
knowledge  will  die  with  them.  It  is  this  small 
body  of  men  which  gets  the  hearing  of  the 
journals.  It  is  their  sermons  and  writings 
which  are  spread  in  great  head-lines  in  dailies 
and  magazines.  Their  theology  is  of  the 
world.  The  world  loves  its  own  and  welcomes 
them  to  its  realm  of  attention  and  literature. 

When  these  men  begin  to  denounce  as  ig- 
norance that  preaching  which  stands  for  a 
literal  resurrection  and  the  actual  session  of 
an  embodied  Christ  in  heaven,  those  preachers 
who  have  been  called  from  the  plow,  and 
those  even  who  have  come  from  the  Bethel 
seminaries,  hesitate,  shiver,  become  ashamed, 
and  yield  their  testimony,  or  hold  it  more  and 
more  in  abeyance ;  and  more  and  more  make 
manifest  that  they  are  ashamed  to  proclaim  the 
old  faith. 

It  is  an  amazing  thing  that  any  preacher 
taught  of  God  should  be  ashamed  to  point  to  the 
Christ  of  God  clothed  with  the  body  in  which 
he  once  hung  upon  the  tree,  now  seated  on  the 
throne  of  the  universe,  the  guaranty  of  re- 
demption and  the  prophecy  of  coming  glor}'. 

5.  The  acceptance  by  Elisha  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  Jericho  theologians  and  the  going  forth 
of  the  fifty  men  from  the  college  to  prove  if 
they  could  that  the  body  of  Elijah  was  not  in 


1  14  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

heaven — ^presents   an    incongruous    spectacle. 

It  was  an  incongruous  thing  that  men  who 
had  given  themselves  up  to  the  study  of  God's 
Word  should  now  be  going  out  to  demonstrate 
that  there  was  no  final  miracle  in  the  history 
of  God's  prophet. 

It  is  an  incongruous  spectacle  to-day  that 
ministers  of  Christ  should  be  seeking  with  all 
the  genius  in  them  to  demonstrate  that  there  is 
nothing  miraculous  in  Christianity. 

And  yet  these  are  the  kind  of  preachers  that 
the  theological  colleges  are  sending  to  us,  ask- 
ing us  to  ordain  them,  to  open  our  pulpits  to 
them. 

What  do  you  think  of  a  preacher  who 
stands  in  the  pulpit  of  a  Christian  church  and 
in  the  name  of  Christ  denies  his  virgin  birth? 

What  do  you  think  of  a  preacher  who  by 
that  denial  puts  a  bar  sinister  on  the  name  of 
the  mother  of  Jesus  and  sends  her  down  the 
ages  as  nothing  better  than  a  fallen  woman  ? 

What  do  you  think  of  a  preacher  who  by 
that  denial  sends  Jesus  Christ  before  the  gaze 
of  his  audience  as  a  fatherless  bastard,  as  an 
illegitimate  son? 

What  do  you  think  of  a  preacher  who  de- 
nies the  death  of  Christ  as  an  atoning  sacrifice 
and  makes  that  cross  no  better  than  a  commor 
murder  or  a  brutal  barbarism? 

What  do  you  think  of  a  preacher  who  denies 
that  Jesus  Christ  rose  from  the  dead  in  the 
body    in    which    he    died;    a    preacher    who 


JERICHO  THEOLOGY  1  1  5 

preaches  that  Jesus  Christ  is  nothing  more 
than  a  bodiless  ghost,  a  formless  phantom? 

What  do  you  think  of  a  preacher  who  denies 
that  on  yonder  throne  is  sitting  a  glorified, 
immortal  man,  upholding  all  things  by  the 
word  of  his  power.  The  God  who  became 
man,  the  man  who  was,  and  is,  none  other  than 
God. 

What  do  you  think  of  a  preacher  who  laughs 
at  the  doctrine  of  hell  and  testifies  that  men 
are  not  so  much  in  danger  of  hell  as  they  are 
of  the  theology  which  proclaims  it;  preachers 
who  teach  that  all  men  are  by  nature  the  sons 
of  God  and  that  no  son  of  man  can  be  lost? 

What  do  you  think  of  the  preacher  who 
teaches  that  the  great  work  of  the  church  is 
saving  the  world  socially  and  not  individually  ; 
that  the  true  call  of  the  church  is  social  and 
not  personal  redemption? 

What  do  you  think  of  the  preacher  who 
stumbles  at  the  miracles  of  the  Bible  but  is 
ready  to  go  on  all-fours  after  spiritualism; 
who  would  consider  himself  childish  if  he  ac- 
cepted the  stories  of  Genesis,  but  who  is  ready 
to  sit  the  night  out  in  a  mediumistic  seance 
waiting  for  communications  from  the  unseen 
world  ? 

V/hat  do  you  think  of  the  preacher  who  is 
not  cevtain  that  the  Bible  gives  clear  state- 
ments concerning  the  hereafter,  but  is  ready  to 
shout  himself  hoarse  over  the  fact  that  scien- 
tists have  now  actually  concluded  that  man  has 
a  soul 


116  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

What  do  you  think  of  a  preacher  who  pro- 
tests against  bibliolatry,  against  surrendering 
completely  to  the  written  Word,  and  yet  looks 
upon  every  utterance  of  Herbert  Spencer  as 
the  very  breath  of  the  Almighty? 

And  yet  these  are  the  kind  of  men  the  Jeri- 
cho colleges  are  sending  us,  asking  us  to  or- 
dain them,  open  our  pulpits  to  them,  give  our 
churches  to  their  sway. 

Men  who  spend  four  or  five  years  at  college 
that  they  may  learn  how  to  prove  to  us  that 
there  was  nothing  more  divine  in  Jesus  Christ 
than  what  is  possible  in  any  other  natural  man. 

Men  who  spend  four  or  five  years  in  college 
that  they  may  scientifically  demonstrate  that 
the  body  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  still  mingles 
with  the  dust  of  Palestine. 

Men  who  spend  four  or  five  years  at  college 
that  they  may  be  able  to  prove  that  the  church 
is  no  more  supernatural  than  any  other  benevo- 
lent or  beneficial  association. 

Men  who  spend  these  years  at  college  that 
they  may  demonstrate  that  however  much  the 
religion  of  Jesus  may  be  superior  in  morality 
to  all  others,  it  is  not  more  divine. 

Men  who  spend  their  years  at  college  in 
order  that  they  may  afterwards  teach  com- 
parative religion  to  their  churches  and  show 
that  Giristianity  is  superior  merely  upon  its 
ethical,  its  moral  side;  that  at  bottom  it  is 
founded  on  no  better  miracles  than  the  super- 
stitious records  of  other  faiths. 


JERICHO  THEOLOGY  117 

Men  who  really  in  their  heart  of  hearts  do 
not  believe  in  the  Bible  as  the  living  Word  of 
God. 

These  are  the  men  the  Jericho  colleges  of 
the  twentieth  century  are  turning  out;  and  it 
is  this  ministry  inspired  by  Jericho,  a  ministry 
coming  in  the  name  of  Christ,  that  presents 
the  most  incongruous  spectacle  of  the  times. 

6.  The  theological  seminary  at  Jericho  was 
an  actual  menace  and  peril  to  the  ministry  of 
Elisha. 

Think  what  it  meant  to  Elisha  if  Elijah  did 
not  ascend  to  heaven  in  his  living  body. 

If  Elijah  did  not  ascend  thither  then  it  was 
an  open  question  whether  he  had  ever  crossed 
Jordan.  Elisha  might  well  question  whether 
it  had  not  been  after  all  a  matter  of  imagina- 
tion on  his  part  to  think  so. 

Nayi  he  might  well  question  whether  he 
had  any  right  to  go  forth  in  the  nam€  of 
Elijah  at  all. 

Indeed  the  truth  is  he  did  not. 

So  long  as  the  Jericho  theologians  were  pro- 
claiming that  the  body  of  Elijah  could  not  be 
in  heaven  Elisha  did  not  stir  out  of  Jericho. 
He  held  his  peace.  His  ministry  in  the  name 
of  Elijah  was  paralyzed. 

And  the  application  is  easy  enough. 

If  Jesus  Christ  does  not  sit  in  his  real  body 
on  yonder  throne  in  heaven,  then  he  never  rose 
from  the  dead  in  that  body.  If  he  did  not  rise 
from  the  dead  in  his  body,  the  body  that  had 


118  THE    SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

been  nailed  to  the  tree,  then  his  death  on  that 
cross  was  not  accepted  of  God  as  a  sacrificial 
atonement.  As  on  that  cross  he  professed  to 
assume  our  sins,  then  he  did  not  discharge 
them,  and  those  who  have  confessed  him  say- 
ing he  "bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the 
tree",  are  still  under  their  judgment. 

The  Apostle  tells  us  that  if  Christ  did  not 
rise  in  the  very  body  in  which  he  was  buried, 
then  all  preaching  in  his  name  is  vain  and 
those  who  have  fallen  asleep  confessing  their 
faith  upon  him  have  perished. 

If  Christ  continued  to  exist  after  death  sim- 
ply as  a  spirit  and  not  in  his  body,  then  he  did 
not  meet  the  full  term  and  sentence  of  death, 
and  immortality,  so  far  from  being  in  the  light, 
is  plunged  into  the  deepest  blackness  of  a 
starless  midnight. 

Nay,  more!  surrender  to  Jericho  theology 
means  the  paralysis  of  the  JerAcho  preacher 
himself.  He  becomes  filled  with  doubts  which 
find  no  limit,  which  extend  over  every  range 
of  professed  truth.  He  becomes  a  peddler  of 
other  men's  thoughts,  of  their  doubts  and 
guesses.  He  speaks  no  longer  with  authority 
as  did  his  blaster ;  he  speaks  as  the  scribes  and 
the  Pharisees.  There  is  nothing  certain  about 
him  but  his  uncertainty — and  those  who  hear 
him  become  like  him — totally  paralyzed  in  re- 
lation to  the  supernatural  and  the  divine. 

Let  this  surrender  to  Jericho  theology  con- 
tinue for  the  next  twenty-five  years  and  the 


JERICHO    THEOLOGY  119 

Bible  will  be  practically  repudiated  from  the 
pulpit,  the  church  as  a  supernatural  organiza- 
tion will  cease  to  exist ;  it  will  become,  on  the 
one  side,  a  club  for  rich  men  and  women 
wherein  they  may  gather  to  congratulate  them- 
selves on  their  moral  tendencies,  satisfy  their 
conscience  with  gifts  to  the  poor  and  bequests 
to  educational  establishments  for  the  increas- 
ing culture  and  spiritual  blindness  of  the  nat- 
ural man  ;  on  the  other  side,  the  church  will 
drift  into  a  social  organization  for  the  discus- 
sion of  social  inequalities  and  wrongs. 

Jericho  theology  means  the  overthrow  of 
New  Testament  Christianity  and  the  faith  once 
for  all  delivered  to  the  saints. 

Note  finally: 

7.  Elisha's  ministry  became  a  ministry  of 
power  only  when  he  repudiated  the  Jericho 
theology. 

Only  when  he  repudiated  the  Jericho  the- 
ology, turned  his  back  on  Jericho,  and  re- 
affirmed his  testimony  concerning  the  living 
body  of  Elijah  in  heaven,  did  his  ministry  be- 
come one  of  power  and  bear  seal  that  it  was 
heaven-sent. 

There  will  be  no  supernatural  power  in  the 
church  of  Christ  till  the  church  rises  up  like  a 
unit  to  repudiate  Jericho  theology. 

Let  the  churches  refuse  to  open  their  pulpits 
to  any  preacher  who  denies  the  virgin  birth 
of  Christ,  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  his  death. 
the  resurrection  of  the  body  and  his  ascension 


120  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES 

in  that  body  to  the  throne  of  God.  Let  the 
churches  refuse  to  ordain  any  man  who  does 
not  beheve  in  the  virgin  birth  of  Christ,  his 
sacrificial  death,  his  resurrection  in  the  body 
in  which  he  died,  and  his  ascension  in  that 
body  to  the  throne  of  God.  Let  the  churches 
refuse  to  ordain  any  man  who  questions  the 
integrity  of  Holy  Scripture;  and  who  in  the 
name  of  modernism  and  under  the  guise  of 
scientific  thought  would  fill  the  church  of 
Christ  with  the  poison  of  natural  infidelity. 

Let  the  churches  refuse  to  give  one  dollar  to 
support  the  Jericho  colleges. 

Let  the  churches  feel  that  it  would  be  a 
blessing  of  blessings  if  every  Jericho  college 
in  the  land  was  razed  to  the  ground. 

Let  no  enlightened  Christian  be  deceived. 

The  present  condition  in  the  theological 
world  has  been  foretold  and  the  church  long 
ago  warned. 

Listen  to  the  Apostle  in  his  letter  to  Timo- 
thy.   He  says: 

"The  time  is  coming  when  they  will  not  en- 
dure sound  doctrine ;  but  after  their  own  lusts 
shall  they  heap  to  themselves  teachers,  having 
itching  ears;  and  they  shall  turn  away  their 
ears  from  the  truth,  and  shall  be  turned  to 
fables." 

The  denials  of  the  truth,  the  repudiation  of 
the  Word — these  things  are  of  themselves  its 
verification ;  they  are  the  fulfilment  of  what  it 
has  foretol(J,    And  beca.use  the  Word  has  told 


JERICHO   THEOLOGY  12i 

US  that  this  condition  would  prevail  character- 
istically in  the  last  times,  on  the  threshold  of 
the  closing  of  the  age,  we  may  be  well  assured 
that  the  Coming  of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh. 

Do  earnest  men  ask  for  the  remedy,  the 
antidote  to  Jericho  theology?  Let  them  listen 
to  the  admonition  of  the  Apostle  Paul  to  a 
preacher,  to  Timothy  himself.     He  says: 

"Preach  the  Word." 

When  darkness  comes  we  turn  on  the  light. 

Let  the  church  have  the  truth. 

Let  them  have  the  truth  of  God  without  any 
apology  or  accommodation. 

Let  the  preacher  heed  the  admonition  of  the 
Apostle : 

"Study  to  show  thyself  approved  to  God ;  a 
workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed, 
rightly  dividing  the  Word  of  Truth." 

Expound  the  Word;  expose  it,  turn  out  its 
contents;  show  the  individual  how  to  read  it 
and  according  to  its  own  directions.  Let  him 
see  that  each  book  of  the  Bible  has  its  own 
key  hung  up  by  the  door;  that  these  different 
parts  of  the  Bible  have  an  organic  relation  to 
each  other.  Teach  the  hearer  that  this  book 
is  not  to  be  read  in  the  light  of  the  wisdom  of 
some  modern  Jericho  professor,  but  in  the 
light  of  God ;  even  as  it  is  written,  "In  thy 
light  we  shall  see  light";  and  again:  "The 
entrance  of  thy  Word  giveth  light." 

Give  to  men  the  "I  know"  and  the  "I  arc 
persuaded,"   the    absolute    assurances    of   the 


122  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES 

Word.  Let  the  hearer  have  a  "Thus  saith  the 
Lord"  and  not  the  assumptions  and  fake 
guesses  of  men. 

Nothing  will  so  antidote  and  render  nil  the 
poison  of  Jericho  theology,  Jericho  seminaries 
and  Jericho  preachers,  as  the  unadulterated 
Word  of  God  itself. 


THE  NEW  RELIGION 

or 

Athenian  Culture  and  Christianity 


"For  the  Athenians  and  strangers  which 
were  there,  spent  their  time  in  nothing  else, 
but  to  tell  or  hear  some  new  thing." — Acts 
17:  21. 

Paul  was  at  Athens.  Everywhere  he  saw 
art.  He  saw  it  in  architecture,  in  temple  and 
statue.  The  statues  were  those  of  the  gods. 
The  gods  represented  the  religion  and  the 
philosophy  of  the  Greeks.  As  Paul  contem- 
plated them  his  heart  was  stirred  within  him 
because  of  the  ignorance  and  superstition 
they  revealed.  Although  he  had  intended  to 
make  Athens  but  a  temporary  stopping-place, 
he  could  not  be  still.  He  had  a  message  to  de- 
liver. He  went  into  the  Jewish  synagogue 
and  preached  there.  He  went  into  the  forum 
and  whenever  he  could  find  any  one  to  listen 
to  him,  he  preached  Jesus  and  the  resurrec- 
tion. On  one  occasion  certain  philosophers 
who  met  daily  in  the  stoa  or  porch  of  the 
temple  and  were  known  as  the  Stoics,  en- 
countered him.  At  first  they  made  light  of 
him  and  then,  finally,  invited  him  to  go  into 
the  Areopagus  and  tell  his  story  there.    The 


124  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

motive  of  that  invitation  is  to  be  found  in  the 
words  of  the  text:  "For  the  Athenians  and  the 
strangers  which  were  there,  spent  their  time  in 
nothing  else,  but  either  to  tell  or  hear  some 
new  thing."  This  is  the  Athenian  spirit.  It 
has  two  marked  characteristics,  to  tell  and  to 
hear  some  new  thing.  The  spirit  of  Athens  is 
the  spirit  of  human  culture,  progress  and  in- 
quiry. That  spirit  is  in  our  midst  to-day.  It 
is  still  marked  by  the  dual  characteristic,  to 
tell  and  to  hear  some  new  thing.  Recently  it 
has  told  us  what  it  deems  to  be  a  new  thing. 
Through  one  of  its  most  representative  and 
university  heads  it  has  told  us  of  a  new  re- 
ligion befitting  the  twentieth  century,  befitting 
its  culture,  development  and  intellectual  worth. 

1.  A  careful  analysis  of  the  official  report  of 
the  address  in  which  this  new  religion  was  pre- 
sented gives  at  least  twelve  propositions. 

It  will  be  a  religion  without  authority. 

It  will  therefore  set  aside  the  Bible  as  the 
inspired,  infallible  Word  of  God. 

It  will  refuse  to  deify  remarkable  human 
personages. 

As  a  consequence  it  will  reject  the  deity  of 
Christ.  It  will  deny  his  virgin  birth  and  will 
categorize  his  generation  on  the  basis  of  nat- 
ural parentage. 

It  will  be  monotheistic. 

That  is  to  say,  it  will  be  Unitarian.  It  will 
not  tolerate  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  All 
covenant  obligations  and  promises  flowing  out 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  125 

of  the  operation  of  Father,  Son  and  Holy- 
Spirit,  as  distinctive  personalities  in  the  unity 
of  the  god-head,  will  be  cast  aside. 

It  will  not  accept  the  intercession  of  any 
personal  intermediary  between  God  and  man. 

It  will,  necessarily,  deny  the  priesthood  and 
heavenly  intercession  of  Christ.  And  as  priest- 
hood is  inseparably  based  on  sacrificial  and 
atoning  death,  it  will  deny  the  death  of  the 
cross  as  an  atoning  sacrifice.  It  will  teach  that 
the  death  of  the  cross  was  a  useless  and  brutal 
murder;  that  the  death  of  Christ  was  not  a 
necessity,  and  that  no  human  being  has  ever 
been  redeemed  by  his  blood. 

It  will  not  believe  in  original  sin. 

It  will  not  believe  that  God  created  man 
originally  upright,  gave  him  free  and  inde- 
pendent choice  and  that,  perverting  his  will,  he 
fell  into  a  state  of  sin  in  which  he  is  helpless 
to  move  towards  holiness  and  God.  Logically, 
it  will  deny  regeneration,  or  the  necessity  of 
a  new  and  spiritual  birth,  and  will  set  up 
the  doctrine  of  its  opposite — the  doctrine  of 
evolution.  It  will  teach  that  man  finds  his 
root  in  lowest  animal  forms  and  has  come  up 
through  manifold  brute  ways  to  his  present 
position  and,  by  the  same  law,  is  moving  up- 
ward on  moral,  spiritual  and  intellectual  lines. 

It  will  look  upon  the  ancient  ordinances  of 
the  church  as  useless  baggage. 

Baptism,  which  is  intended  primarily  to  set 
iorth  the  death,  burial  and  resurrection  of  our 


126  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

Lord  and,  secondarily,  the  identification  of 
the  beHever  in  that  death,  burial  and  resur- 
rection ;  the  Lord's  Supper,  intended  to  be 
a  constant  memorial  of  the  solemn  passover 
of  the  cross  and  to  teach  continually  that  our 
only  ground  of  approach  to  God  is  through 
the  blood  of  sacrifice ;  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper,  these  ordinances  will  be  relegated  to 
the  dump-heap  of  meaningless  and  fossilifer- 
ous  rites. 

The  new  religion  will  not  hold  out  the 
hope  of  future  compensation  for  present  ills. 

It  will  repudiate  the  promised  joys  land 
measureless  felicities  of  Heaven.  No  sound 
of  harpers  harping  with  their  harps  will  ever 
fall  upon  the  ears  of  the  members  of  this 
new  church.  The  chant  of  angelic  choirs 
floating  downward  from  some  uplifted  dome 
of  glory  will  never  stir  and  thrill  their  souls. 
A  holy  city  with  its  jasper  walls,  its  streets 
of  gold  and  its  gates  of  pearl,  the  tree  and 
the  river  of  life,  will  be  smiled  away  as  the 
childish  dream  of  a  crude  and  perfervid 
imagination.  All  the  rewards  of  a  cloudless 
and  endless  to-morrow  held  out  so  persistently 
bx  Christ  and  his  apostles  will  be  counted  as 
so  many  bright  but  deceit  ful   lances. 

The  minister  of  the  new  religion  will  not  be 
a  man  who  shall  stand  up  like  the  Apostle  Paul 
and  preach  Jesus  and  the  resurrection.  He 
will  be  the  Traduate  of  a  medical  college,  a 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  127 

clear-headed  diagnostician,  a  skilful  surgeon, 
a  family  practitioner. 

His  instrumentalities  will  not  be  the  Bible 
and  the  hymn  book,  but  the  scalpel,  the  knife, 
the  saw  of  the  surgeon  and  the  materia 
medica  of  the  physician. 

The  new  religion  will  not  offer  a  remedy 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  soul. 

Its  aim  will  be  the  cure  of  the  body. 

Its  instrumentalities  will  be  the  pharmaco- 
poeia of  the  druggist,  the  appHances  of  the 
operating  room  and  the  atmosphere  of  a  mod- 
ern hospital.  It  will  take  away  such  texts  as, 
"Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy  laden  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  "Thou 
wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is 
stayed  on  thee,  because  he  trusteth  in  thee." 
All  testimony  which  paints  a  glowing  heaven 
and  a  returning  immortal  man,  coming  back 
to  the  earth  which  once  rejected  him,  coming 
to  speak  the  word  that  shall  make  the  dust  to 
bloom  with  immortality  for  every  buried  saint, 
such  a  concept,  and  all  the  words  which  speak 
of  it,  will  be  looked  upon  as  the  rhapsodical 
sentimentality  and  meaningless  vagaries  of 
ignorance  and  superstition. 

This  new  religion  will  present  to  every  man 
a  God  who  shall  be  a  "multiplication  of 
infinities." 

Repeat  the  phrase  and  roll  it  again  and  again 
through  the  chambers  of  your  mind.  It  is  a 
sacramental  phrase  of  the  new  religion.     It  is 


128  THE    SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

one  of  the  chief  accents  in  the  professed  new- 
ness of  its  nomenclature. 

"The  multiplication  of  infinities !" 

It  is  said  that  when  Whitefield  repeated  in 
sonorous  accentuation  the  word,  "Mesopota- 
mia," the  vast  audience  thrilled  under  its  vi- 
bration. With  an  immense  apology  to 
Whitefield  I  would  repeat  the  sonority  and 
cadenced  graduation  of  this  distinctively  new 
and  felicitous  phrase,  "The  multiplication  of 
infinities." 

I  confess  it  is  altogether  beyond  me  and, 
so  far  as  I  know,  beyond  any  one  else,  even 
its  inventor;  for,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  this 
new  religion  claims  to  be  monotheistic.  Mono- 
theism is  the  doctrine  of  a  God  who  is  one 
and  infinite.  But  a  God  who  is  the  multipli- 
cation of  infinities  must  be  the  multiplication 
of  an  infinite  God ;  and  such  a  multiplication, 
mathematically,  and  on  the  basic  line  of  sim- 
plest logic,  must  give  us  the  multiplication  of 
infinite  Gods.  But  a  multiplication  of  infinite 
Gods  who  after  all  are  one  infinite  God,  sug- 
gests a  jig-saw  puzzle  by  the  side  of  which 
the  ancient  doctrine  of  one  God  who  is  Father, 
Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  is  as  simple  as  a  child's 
first  proposition  in  a,  b,  c.  Such  a  religion  so 
far  from  being  monotheistic  is,  in  the  last 
analysis,  polytheistic — and  more  so. 

The  new  religion  will  have  no  dogma,  no 
creed  or  doctrine. 

There   will   be  no  definition,  nothing  dis- 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  129 

tinct  or  certified  which  any  one  may  be  called 
to  believe.  It  will  be  a  free-for-all,  a  go-as- 
you-please,  in  a  mental  stadium  where  there 
is  no  starting  point  and  where  there  can  be 
no  winning  goal. 

Finally,  this  new  religion  will  be  social  and 
co-operative. 

It  will  deal  wholly  with  the  present,  with  the 
here  instead  of  the  there,  with  the  life  that 
now  is,  and  not  with  that  which  is  to  come. 
It  will  not  be  taken  up  with  the  city  above, 
but  the  city  below,  with  the  present  and  real 
world,  and  not  with  the  future  and  uncertain 
world. 

This  is  the  new  religion ! 

A  religion  that  repudiates  Christianity,  de- 
nies the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament  and 
finds  the  Bible  (at  present  the  best  "seller"  in 
the  world)  too  antiquated  for  a  five-foot  shelf 
and  unequal  to  the  demand  of  modern  times. 

2.  This  new  religion  is  not  new. 

From  the  beginning  of  Christianity  it  has 
walked  side  by  side  with  it  as  a  darkling 
shadow.  Read  Church  history  and  you  will 
find  every  proposition  quoted  on  the  lips  of 
its  opponents :  men  who  were  counted  as  in- 
tellectual giants  in  their  day,  who  stood  up 
and  denied  the  virgin  birth  of  Christ,  re- 
pudiated the  atoning  sacrificial  character  of 
his  death,  laughed  uproariously  at  the  thought 
that  he  had  risen  in  his  actual  body  from  the 
dead,  brushed  aside  the  idea  of  his  priesthood 


130  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

in  heaven,  and  refused  to  believe  that  he  would 
come  to  earth  again  as  the  resurrection  and 
the  life :  men  who  taught  that  man  comes  up 
out'  of,  and  from,  the  very  nature  of  things, 
that  he  is  the  avatar  of  God,  that  humanity  is 
the  sum  total  of  the  divine  expression,  and 
that  the  racial  man  is  moving  onward  and  up- 
ward to  that  hour  when  by  his  knowledge  of 
and  his  reciprocal  relationship  to  nature's 
forces  he  will  dominate  them  as  nature's  God 
and  be  the  true  and  final  personalism  of  the 
universe :  men  who  were  encountered  and 
out-argued  and  their  doctrines  proven  worse 
than  worthless  by  the  mightiest  dialecticians 
and  loftiest  intellects  the  world  has  ever 
known  either  inside  the  church  or  out  of  it. 

There  is  not  a  proposition  in  the  new  re- 
ligion that  is  not  at  least  two  thousand  years 
old.  Some  of  these  propositions  are  older 
still.  Open  the  pages  of  your  classics  and 
you  will  find  them  there. 

There  is  nothing  new  in  the  new  religion. 

And  amid  all  the  mass  of  ancient  proposi- 
tions the  one  which  seems  to  awaken  the  most 
enthusiasm  among  the  admirers  of  the  cult 
is  that  proposition  which  calls  for  love  to 
God  and  love  and  service  to  man. 
,>And  this  proposition  is  fundamental  to 
Christianity. 

Go  back  to  the  days  when  Jesus  walked  the 
Judean  hills  or  stood  by  blue  Galilee.  Mark 
that  moment  when  a  lawyer  in  the  temple, 


I'HE    NEW   RELIGION  131 

seeking  to  entangle  him  in  his  talk,  asked  him 
what  was  the  great  commandment  of  the  law, 
and  Jesus  answered  and  said:  "Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind.  This 
is  the  first  and  the  great  commandment.  And 
the  second  is  like  unto  it.  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself.  On  these  two  com- 
mandments hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets." 

This  is  fundamental  to  Christianity. 

But  it  rests  upon  a  basis  such  as  had  never 
before  been  dreamed  of  in  any  religion  or 
philosophy. 

What  is  the  basis  on  which  Christianity  ap- 
peals that  man  shall  love  his  God  and  his 
neighbour  as  himself?  Turn  over  the  pages  of 
the  New  Testament.  Do  the  apostles  point  to 
the  wonders  of  creation  and  by  these  appeal 
to  men  to  love  their  Creator — God? 

Do  they  point  to  the  East  where  it  turns 
to  palest  silver,  then  to  rose,  to  amber,  and 
anon  to  infinite  blue,  as  the  day  is  born?  Do 
they  bid  men  watch  the  evening  sky  as  the 
sun  goes  down  and  all  the  heavens  become  a 
field  of  winrowed  glories,  or  a  vast  extended 
plain  where  imperial  cities  burn  and  flame  as 
though  some  great  torch  from  an  angel's 
careless  hand  had  fallen  amid  its  palaces  and 
towers?  Do  they  bid  men  cast  their  glances 
upward  where  the  Via  Lactea  spans  the  mid- 
night zenith  like  a  royal  highway  along  which 
the  chariot  of  the  king  has  sped,  flinging  from 


132  THE    SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

the  rim  of  its  whirling  wheels  eighteen  mil- 
lions of  suns  and  systems  like  wind-blown 
dust  of  powdered  stars?  Do  they  point  to 
this  world  keeping  its  course  in  an  unfaltering 
orbit  about  the  sun,  so  that  day  and  night  for 
two  thousand  years  have  not  lost  a  degree 
between  them?  Do  they  point  to  the  spire 
of  grass  and  the  cedar  of  Lebanon,  the  wave 
upon  the  shore,  the  flower  upon  the  stem,  and 
the  mountain  ridges  bolting  the  spinning  earth 
together  and  say,  "Behold  the  concrete 
thoughts  of  God — the  everlasting  thinker?" 
Do  they  talk  continually  in  teleological  speech 
of  the  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end,  and  tell 
you  that  every  atom  of  earth  is  the  revelation 
of  a  design  and  that  every  movement  in 
heaven  above  and  earth  below  and  the  very 
depths  of  inertia  and  silence  themselves  pro- 
claim a  designer?  Do  they  draw  attention  to 
the  providences  of  God  bending  above  the 
helpless  sons  of  men  and  demonstrate  that 
the  movement  of  the  seasons  from  spring  time 
to  winter  is  the  opening  of  his  hand  ? 

Do  they  present  these  things  and  bid  men 
because  of  them  give  forth  their  love  to  God? 

They  do  not. 

They  waste  neither  energy  nor  time  in  such 
collocation  of  human  speech. 

And  they  are  wise ! 

Let  any  man  study  nature.  Let  him  study 
bacteriology,  analyze  the  awful  forms  and 
forces  of  life  pervading  every  square  inch  of 


THE    NEW    RELIGION  133 

what  we  are  pleased  to  call  space ;  let  him  look 
at  some  monstrous  squid,  some  foul  and  un- 
speakable octopus,  and  ask  himself  honestly 
whether  the  Being  who  could  make  such  an  ap- 
parently useless  horror  has  not  in  himself  some 
such  tendance  of  all-enveloping  destruction, 
some  such  impulse  of  almost  impish  power? 
Let  him  face  the  inequalities  and  contradictions 
in  human  life,  its  sorrows,  its  disappointments 
and  despair ;  let  him  look  at  the  grave  whither 
he  is  going  with  brain  and  thought  enough  to 
know  that  disease  and  death  are  the  absolute 
discords  of  earth,  and  that  without  a  moment's 
warning  he  may  slip  within  the  silence  and 
the  corruption  of  that  grave  with  no  power 
to  win  a  ray  of  light  from  its  darkness  or  one 
note  from  its  hard  and  paralyzing  silence ;  let 
him  study  all  this  and  know  that  above  human 
heartache,  sin  and  woe  no  face  of  God  is  seen 
looking  down  in  pity,  no  hand  is  stretched  out 
to  touch  and  help ;  let  him  regard  all  this  and 
analyze  its  meaning  and  he  will  spring  to  his 
feet  and  wonder  with  a  shiver  of  horror  in 
every  lobe  of  his  brain  whether,  after  all,  God 
is  not  a  devil,  a  master  of  measureless  power, 
a  heartless  aesthete,  an  infinite  mathematician 
and  machinist,  an  unfeeling  personalism  ab- 
sorbed in  the  contemplation  of  his  fearful  and 
inexplicable  greatness,  and  wholly  unconscious 
either  of  joy  or  sorrow,  of  life  or  death. 

Nay!  the  apostles  never  lay  down  a  propo- 
sition which  risks  such   conclusions.     They 


134  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

never  point  to  nature  and  providence.  They 
point  to  the  darkest  and  most  terrible  spot 
on  earth,  the  center  of  unspeakable  anguish 
and  agony,  crimson  with  blood  and  vocal  with 
untranslatable  horror — the  Cross  of  Christ. 
They  point  to  that  cross  and  declare  that  in 
the  broken  heart  of  God's  Son,  by  all  the 
woe  he  suffered,  by  the  cry  wrung  from  his 
dry  parched  lips,  we  are  to  see,  to  feel,  to  hear 
and  know,  the  revelation  of  infinite  and  meas- 
ureless love — the  love  of  God ;  that,  in  that 
hour,  through  ways  of  righteousness,  in  the 
execution  of  inexorable  law,  God  was  revealing 
his  love;  that,  in  that  hour,  God  himself  in 
the  person  of  his  Son  was  enduring  the  judg- 
ment of  his  own  law  of  righteousness  against 
the  sin  and  sin  nature  of  sinful  man,  and  seek- 
ing a  way  by  which  he  might  be  just  and  yet 
the  justifier  of  him  who  should  believe  on 
Jesus.  And  these  apostles  cry  out  and  say, 
"Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but 
that  he  loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins,"  "He  spared  not  his 
own  Son  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all" ;  and 
they  cry,  "God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life."  They  ring  the  changes  on 
the  fact  that  it  is  because  God  so  loved  us 
and  showed  it  in  the  substitution  of  his  Son 
on  our  behalf  that  we  ought  to  love  him. 
And  these  apostles  do  well  to  do  so.    Love 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  135 

must  reveal  itself  through  sacrifice.  He  who 
really  loves  another  must,  if  needs  be,  die  for 
him.  When  we  look  at  the  cross  we  feel 
that  God  in  some  strange,  sad  way  is  there 
seeking  for  us.  And  even  though  in  the  end 
his  effort  had  been  a  failure,  we  feel  that 
through  the  fellowship  of  suffering  he  has  re- 
vealed his  infinite  and  all-embracing  love. 

No!  not  the  splendors  of  creation,  not  the 
wealth  of  divine  providence  reveal  his  love, 
but  thai  cruel  and  mysterious  cross  of  Cal- 
vary. 

And  this  cross  of  Calvary  works. 

It  works  as  the  appeal  to  creatorship  and 
providence  can  never  work. 

It  works  indeed!  Wherever  that  cross  has 
been  lifted  up  human  hearts  have  been  drawn 
as  by  an  infinite  magnet  and  lifted  to  God, 
the  stoniest  hearts  have  been  melted  and 
turned  to  hearts  of  flesh,  and  human  love  has 
poured  itself  forth  in  unceasing  devotion  to 
his  name.  And  on  the  same  basis  of  the  sacri- 
ficial cross  the  New  Testament  writers  appeal 
to  Christians  to  love  their  fellows.  If  the 
infinite  and  holy  God  could  come  forth  and 
take  to  himself  a  humarity  in  which  he  might 
die  for  us,  how  ought  we  for  whom  he 
died,  "Children  of  wrath  even  as  others,"  to 
love  those  who  are  in  a  category  of  antagon- 
ism to  God  no  worse  than  our  own.  They  say, 
"Hereby  perceive  we  the  love  of  God.  BE- 


136  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

CAUSE  HE  LAID  DOWN  HIS  LIFE  FOE 
US." 

Mark  it  well ! ! 

God's  love  declared,  not  by  creation's 
power  and  providential  care,  but  by  the  un- 
speakable fact  that  HE  LAID  DOWN  HIS 
LIFE  FOR  US.  And  then,  because  of  this, 
comes  the  rest  of  that  marvelous  phrase,  "And 
we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the 
brethren." 

This  proposition  then  of  love  to  God  and 
love  and  service  to  man,  rests  on  the  basis  of 
the  cross.  On  that  basis  Christianity  has  gone 
forth  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  and 
appealed  to  the  coldest  hearts.  On  that  basis 
it  has  moved  the  sons  of  men  till  a  flame  of 
love  to  God  and  love  to  man  has  burned  in  a 
ring  of  unselfish  glory  round  the  world. 

And  the  new  religion  takes  this  proposition 
from  Christianity,  takes  it  out  of  its  divine 
connection,  cuts  it  loose  from  its  inspired 
basis  and  annexes  it  as  its  own. 

Let  me  show  you  the  meanness  of  it. 

One  May  night  I  was  in  the  Roman  forum. 
I  had  spent  the  day  wandering  through  the 
ruins  of  the  Caesars'  palace.  I  had  climbed  the 
Septizonium  and  looking  across  to  the  Alban 
hills  had  dreamed  of  the  Sabine  farm,  of 
Horace  and  his  splendid  lines.  I  came  down 
and  passed  where  Paul  stood  before  the 
Caesar,  came  out  and,  for  a  moment,  halted 
and  gazed  at  the  glory  sky  as  the  sun  passeo 


THE    NEW   RELIGION  137 

slowly  westward  to  Ostia  and  the  sea.  Here 
where  I  stood  Cicero  had  flung  his  philippics 
against  a  Cataline.  There  was  the  sacred  way 
just  turning  over  the  Velian  hill,  and  in  my 
mind  was  the  vision  of  the  pageants  that  had 
swept  thence  to  the  Capitoline  crest.  I  passed 
under  the  arch  of  Titus  and  in  the  coming  twi- 
light began  to  lose  myself  amid  the  intricacies 
of  the  once  imperial  city.  Suddenly  I  found 
myself  face  to  face  with  a  low  building  of 
common  construction,  but  united  to  it,  in  some 
incongruous  fashion,  the  marble  fragments  of 
an  ancient  portico.  Somewhere  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  in  the  internecine  strife  of  the  fallen 
city,  this  portico  from  a  noble  Roman  temple 
had  been  rent  from  its  true  relation  and 
annexed  to  this  plebeian  heap. 

And  this  is  what  the  new  religion  has  done. 

It  has  stolen  the  portico  of  love  to  God  and 
love  and  service  to  man;  it  has  torn  it  loose 
from  the  temple  of  divine  Christianity  and  its 
basis  of  the  sacrificial  Christ  and  sought  to 
build  it  into  this  clay  hovel  of  human  inven- 
tion, claim  it  as  its  own  and  call  it  new. 

New! 

Whatever  there  is  of  religious  value,  of 
spiritual  suggestion  or  hope  in  the  new  re- 
ligion has  been  stolen,  borrowed  or  garbled 
from  Christianity.  What  there  is  in  it  that 
is  iconoclastic  and  infidel,  is  simply  old  infidel- 
ity in  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  speaking  English 
instead  of  Greek,  and   wearing  the   mortar- 


138  THE   SIGNS    OF    THE   TIMES 

board  hat  and  gown  of  an  American  Uni- 
versity president  instead  of  the  robe  of  a 
Greek  or  Latin  philosopher. 

There  is  nothing  new  in  the  new  religion. 

3.  The  fallacies  of  the  new  religion. 

It  is  a  fallacy  to  seek  to  build  a  religion 
without  authority.  What  is  a  religion  without 
authority  ? 

Let  me  ask,  what  is  a  government  without 
authority  ? 

Look  yonder  at'  Louis  XVL  in  the  Hotel  de 
Ville.  See  how  the  mob  put  the  red  cap  on 
his  head,  slap  him  on  the  back  as  a  good  fellow 
and  shout  liberty,  fraternity  and  equality. 
Dignity  and  authority  trampled  under  foot. 
The  day  that  king  allowed  the  women  of  the 
market,  the  brazen  viragoes  of  the  gutter,  to 
draw  him  from  Versailles  to  Paris,  authority 
was  thrown  into  the  ditch  and  the  transition 
from  the  palace  of  kings  and  the  line  of  a 
thousand  years  of  rule  to  the  guillotine  where 
the  king  lost  his  head  and  legitimate  govern- 
ment came  to  an  end,  was  a  simple  sequence 
to  the  hour  when  authority  was  dethroned. 

What  is  a  religion  without  authority? 

Let  me  ask,  what  was  the  cause  of  the 
bloody  war  between  the  states?  It  was  be- 
cause the  word  "nation"  was  spelt  with  a  little 
n  and  the  individual  state  with  a  large  S,  the 
one  state  of  Virginia  being  able  to  borrow 
money  at  a  cheaper  rate  than  the  government 
of  the  United  States,    The  source  of  that  fea,r- 


tME   NtW  RELIGION  |39 

ful  war  was  the  lack  of  governmental  author- 
ity. Not  till  the  word  "Nation"  was  written 
in  crimson  capital  letters  on  the  heights  of 
Gulp's  hill  at  Gettysburg,  and  every  white  star 
in  the  blue  field  of  the  flag  was  made  whiter  by 
the  purity  of  American  patriotism;  not  till 
every  red  stripe  was  deepened  by  the  heart's 
blood  of  the  best  life  of  this  land;  not  till 
authority  took  the  place  of  uncertain  partner- 
ship, did  this  country  draw  the  breath  of  a 
definite  governmental  life. 

What  is  a  religion  without  authority? 

It  is  as  a  government  without  authority — it 
is  anarchy,  rebellion,  confusion,  conflict. 

What  is  religion  without  authority? 

It  is  as  a  man  without  backbone.  There 
must  be  backbone,  there  must  be  framework 
on  which  to  build  muscle  and  tissue  and  or- 
gans if  you  would  have  a  symmetrical,  living 
man. 

Religion  must  have  bones  in  it.  It  must  be 
full  of  bones,  and  these  bones  must  radiate 
from  a  central  backbone.  There  must  be  a 
skeleton;  a  framework  on  which  to  build 
muscle  and  tissue  and  organ  if  you  would  have 
a  symmetrical,  living  religion. 

To  talk  about  a  religion  without  authority 
is  as  childish  as  to  talk  about  building  a 
house  without  foundation,  or  tying  a  knot  in  a 
rope  of  sand. 

A  religion  without  authority  is  an  indescrib- 
able fallacy. 


)4()  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

It  is  fallacious  to  set  up  a  religion  which 
denies  the  deity  of  Christ. 

Admit  that  Christ  was  not  God,  then  he 
was  either  the  most  arrant  imposter  the  world 
ever  knew  or  a  poor,  weak,  degenerate,  self- 
deceived  brain.  In  either  case  he  is  not  fit  to 
be  the  head  of  a  religion. 

And  yet  we  are  told  with  all  seriousness  that 
in  proportion  as  we  set  aside  the  deity  of 
Christ,  relieve  him  from  the  burden  of  mir- 
acles, bring  him  out  of  the  realm  of  the  super- 
natural and  grade  him  in  the  category  of  a 
good,  but  natural  man,  we  shall  exalt  him  into 
the  wider  love  and  fuller  apprehension  of  the 
sons  of  men. 

How  can  you  exalt  an  impostor  or  a  weak- 
ling in  the  estimation  of  men?  And  if  Jesus 
Christ  was  not  God  he  was  one  or  the  other. 

In  the  language  of  the  street  I  might  well 
say,  "What  are  you  giving  us  ?"  Is  it  thought 
we  have  no  books,  that  we  are  confined  in  our 
reading  to  a  five-foot  shelf,  or  that  there  are 
no  thought  forces  outside  the  Areopagus  of 
New  England? 

It  is  a  fallacy  to  seek  to  build  a  Christian 
religion  which  denies  the  Trinity. 

What  is  the  Trinity?  t 

The  next  time  God  gives  you  one  of  those 
clear  days  which  makes  everything  within  you 
vital  and  vigorous,  recognize  it  as  due  to  the 
presence  of  that  all-embracing  mystery  we  call 
light. 


THE  NEW  RELIGION  14! 

And  what  is  light? 

Light  is  one  substance  with  three  proper- 
ties, the  actinic,  luminiferous  and  calorific.  In 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  properties  of  light 
are  distinct  they  cannot  be  separated  from 
each  other.  Where  the  one  is  the  others  are. 
Where  the  actinic  is  the  luminiferous  and  the 
calorific  are.  Where  the  luminiferous  is  the 
actinic  and  the  calorific  are.  Where  the  calo- 
rific is  the  actinic  and  the  luminiferous  are. 
The  actinic  can  neither  be  seen  nor  felt.  The 
calorific  cannot  be  seen  but  may  be  felt.  The 
luminiferous  is  both  seen  and  felt  and  is  the 
revelation  and  expression  of  the  other  two. 

What  an  absurdity  it  would  be  to  reject  any 
two  of  these  properties  and  call  the  remaining 
one  light. 

Nay!  light  is  one  and  yet  three.  Light  is 
three  and  yet  one. 

And  Holy  Scripture  says,  "God  is  light." 
God  is  one  being— one  God  and  yet 
three  persons,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit. 
In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  personalities  are 
distinct  they  cannot  be  separated  from  each 
other.  Where  the  one  is  the  others  are. 
Where  the  Father  is  the  Son  and  the  Spirit 
are.  Where  the  Son  is  the  Father  and  the 
Spirit  are.  Where  the  Spirit  is  the  Father  and 
the  Son  are.  The  Father  can  neither  be  seen 
nor  felt.  The  Spirit  cannot  be  seen  but  may 
be  felt.  The  Son  can  be  both  seen  and  felt 
and  is  the  revelation  and  the  expression  of 


I42  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

the  other  two.  What  an  absurdity  it  would 
be  to  reject  any  two  of  these  persons  of  the 
God-head  and  call  the  remaining  one  God. 

Nay!  God  is  one  and  yet  three.  God  is 
three  and  yet  one. 

And  these  three  distinct  persons,  Father, 
Son  and  Holy  Spirit  are  one  God  in  which 
we  neither  confound  the  persons  nor  divide 
the  substance.  And  these  three  in  the  one 
infinite  Godhead  work  out  in  their  indivisible 
unity,  redemption,  righteousness  and  final 
glory,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  in  their  unity 
alone  make  Christianity  possible. 

A  mystery! 

Beyond  all  question.  And  what  is  a  God 
without  mystery?  What  is  a  God  whose  in- 
finity a  finite  mind  can  grasp? 

But  between  a  mystery  and  a  puzzle  there 
is  an  Atlantic  Ocean  difference.  The  Trinity 
is  a  divine  mystery,  the  simplest  statement 
concerning  which  may  well  call  upon  all  the 
intellect  and  heart  in  a  human  being.  But  a 
"multiplication  of  infinities"  is  a  vulgar 
puzzle  which  might  well  produce  laughter  in 
the  bottomless  pit. 

It  is  a  fallacy  to  set  up  a  religion  based  on 
the  processes  of  personal  evolution  and  seek 
thereby  to  bring  forth  the  divinity  in  an  in- 
dividual life.  You  might  as  well  attempt  to 
gather  grapes  of  thorns  and  figs  of  thistles, 
or  turn  a  stone  into  a  son  of  God. 

It  is  fallacious  to  seek  to  build  a  religioO 


THE    NEW    RELIGION  143 

which  bids  men  look  within  themselves  for 
hope.  You  mi£:ht  as  well  exhort  a  man  to 
look  down  tV-G  ciater  of  a  flaming  hell. 

It  is  a  fallacy  to  build  any  religion  which 
ignores  the  controversy  between  sin  and  holi- 
ness ;  between  a  being  who  hates  holiness  and 
a  holy  being  who  hates  sin. 

It  is  a  fallacy  to  build  a  religion  which  does 
not  seek  to  bring  the  conscience  of  man  into 
accord  with  the  conscience  of  the  universe— 
that  is  to  say,  the  conscience  of  God. 

In  a  world  where  God  invariably  punishes 
every  violation  of  his  law  before  he  forgives 
it,  what  folly,  what  worse  than  folly  to  set 
up  a  treaty  between  God  and  man  which  does 
not  rest  upon  a  basis  of  satisfaction  rendered 
to  God,  satisfaction  to  his  law,  his  govern- 
ment and  being.     What  a  fallacy  to  attempt 
to  set  up  a  religion  which  denies  the  necessity 
of  atonement ;  a  necessity  written  into  the  very 
fabric  of  things ;  written  in  the  law  of  hered- 
ity ;  written  in  personal  experience  and  echo- 
ing in  the  words  and  the  truth,  "Whatsoever 
a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap ;"  revealed 
in   every  electric  chair   and  hangman's   rope 
and  coming  down  to  us  with  unabridged  ac- 
cent in  the  unrepealed  original  law  of  God, 
"Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood  by  man  shall 
his  blood  be  shed."     A  necessity  illustrated, 
repeated,  typified,  reannounced  and  affirmed 
from  Eden's  gate  where  the  first  victim  is  slain 
till  that  hour  when  Jesus  cries  "it  is  finished." 


144  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

and  an  apostle  says,  he  "died  for  our  sins  ac- 
cording to  the  scriptures;"  not  only  in  fulfil- 
ment of  the  scriptures  but  according  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  scriptures — that  is — sacrificial 
atonement. 

Oh,  the  fallacy  of  a  religion  which  does  not 
satisfy  the  conscience  of  man  with  the  satis- 
faction that  satisfies  the  conscience  of  God. 

But  why  go  further?  Think  of  the  fallacy 
of  a  religion  which  sets  aside  the  supernatural, 
shrouds  the  grave  in  silence  and  shuts  man  up 
to  a  limited  life  of  forty  or  fifty  or  sixty 
years — 3  quick,  sharp  pain — a  gasp  for  breath 
— death — the  grave  clods  and — forgetfulness. 

Is  that  the  cure-all  for  the  twentieth  cent- 
i«t  ury? 

Is  that  the  latest  thing  the  Athenian  culture 
of  the  hour  can  give  us? 

Is  this  the  best  product  of  a  university 
course  ? 

In  a  world  of  perplexities,  tragedies  and 
woes,  has  the  Athenianism  of  the  twentieth 
century  nothing  better  to  offer  than  a  religion 
without  authority,  a  faith  without  doctrine, 
and  a  Christ  without  character? 

For  the  heartache,  for  the  memory  of  yes- 
terday's sin  that  bites  as  the  sharp  tooth  of  a 
ravening  wolf,  has  the  new  religion  nothing 
better  to  offer  than  the  knife  of  the  surgeon 
to  cure  the  disease  of  the  body;  has  it  no 
medicine  for  a  mind  diseased,  no  remedy  for 
the  pain  of  the  soul  ? 


THE    NEW    RELIGION  145 

As  our  eyes  grow  dim  with  age  has  it  no 
vision  of  a  holy  city,  a  haven  of  rest ;  when 
life's  fitful  fever  is  over  here  has  it  no  nobler 
pulse-beat  to  give  us  there  ? 

When  we  stand  on  the  threshold  of  the  five 
minutes  after  death  can  it  do  no  better  than 
take  away  from  us  all  the  sweet  stories  of 
heaven  we  learned  at  our  mother's  knee? 
When  we  stand  at  that  place  where  the  ways 
part,  where  time  is  no  longer  a  high  road  and 
eternity  unrolls  a  dim,  uncertain  route,  can  it 
give  us  no  better  sign-post  than  an  interroga- 
tion point,  no  better  direction  than  a  guess? 

If  it  be  so — then  this  new  religion  is  the 
most  forlorn,  the  most  hopeless,  the  most 
fallacious,  unintellectual,  cruel,  heartless,  con- 
cept of  human  limitation,  contradiction  and 
confusion,  ever  invented  within  a  dry,  mois- 
tureless  skull,  to  deceive  and  betray  the 
troubled  soul  of  man.  For  bread  it  gives  us  a 
stone,  for  a  fish  it  gives  us  a  serpent.  Instead 
of  a  living,  sentient,  thrilling  religion,  it  is  a 
mummy,  a  juiceless,  withered  mummy.  In- 
stead of  setting  us  upon  a  foundation  it  flings 
us  into  a  sea  which  has  no  shore  and  whose 
broken  waves  continually  toss  us  into  the 
deeper  depths  of  unsounded  darkness. 

Oh,  New  Religion!  thy  name  is  fallacy  and 
thine  outcome — despair. 

4.  What  would  happen  if  this  new  religion 
should  become  universal? 

Three  things  wonll  happen.- 


146  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

The  world  would  become  materialistic,  lati- 
tudinarian  and  utilitarian. 

It  would  become  materialistic. 

The  moment  you  shut  out  the  life  and  the 
world  to  come;  the  moment  you  shut  man  up 
to  the  life  that  now  is,  you  have  made  him  a 
materialist.  He  says,  Let  us  eat  and  drink  for 
to-morrow  we  die.  Let  us  seek  and  delve  and 
lay  hold  of  earth's  treasures  that  we  may 
enjoy  earth's  pleasure  while  we  may.  Shut 
out  from  God  and  a  future  in  which  to  know 
and  enjoy  him,  man  is  but  a  sensualist.  No 
matter  though  his  soul  may  fly  on  the  wings 
of  song  almost  to  the  zenith  ;  no  matter  though 
his  genius  may  flash  forth  on  every  plane  of 
aesthetic  culture  and  refinement  be  found  in 
every  accent  of  his  life,  he  is  at  the  best  only  a 
sensualist,  living,  governed,  and  governing  by 
the  material  senses,  with  no  larger  vision  than 
the  things  that  are  seen,  and  no  deeper  in- 
spiration than  the  things  which  are  temporal. 

The  world  would  become  latitudinarian. 

With  a  religion  preaching  anarchy  in  mind, 
there  would  come  latitudinarianism — lawless- 
ness in  desire  and  lawlessness  in  deed.  With 
dethronement  of  authority  in  religion  there 
would  be  overthrow  of  any  settled  standard  in 
morals.  What  is  considered  to-day's  evil 
might  be  to-morrow's  good ;  the  wrong  in  one 
latitude  might  be  virtue  in  another,  and  fixity 
of   law   in   any   direction   would  be   resented 


THE  NEW  RELIGION  147 

as  a  limit  to  human  action  and  an  appeal  to 
anarchy  in  the  name  of  freedom. 

The  world  would  become  utilitarian. 

Utilitarianism  is  self-defence. 

You  have  policemen  in  your  cities  not  be- 
cause you  love  righteousness  and  truth  in 
themselves  or  because  you  are  specially  inter- 
ested to  maintain  the  integrity  of  your  neigh- 
bor's meum  et  teum,  but  because  you  do  not 
wish  your  own  domain  invaded. 

With  lawlessness,  moral  and  physical, 
breaking  out  as  a  consequence  of  materialistic 
latitudinarianism  in  religion,  men  would  be 
forced  to  come  together  and  erect  some  final 
standard  in  morals,  some  absolute  and  definite 
form  of  authority;  and  thus,  in  the  end,  in- 
stead of  authority  enthroned  in  grace  and  act- 
ing in  love  and  benevolence  to  individual  lives, 
you  would  have  a  centralized  tyranny  in  which 
the  personal  hope  would  be  sacrificed  to  the 
general  concept. 

The  world  would  be  filled  with  educated  and 
trained  animals  from  whom  all  sense  of  a 
personal  God  would  have  disappeared ;  a  world 
in  which  all  true  perspective  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility would  be  absent ;  a  world  in  which 
every  advance  in  Athenian  culture  would 
serve  to  make  man  a  stench  in  the  nostrils  of 
the  Almighty  and  would  cry  aloud  that  he 
should  come  and  sweep  such  a  race  of  worth- 
less, fruitless  beings  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 


148  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

5.  Finally,  the  prophetic  import  of  this  new 
religion. 

The  import  is  clear  enough. 

The  Word  of  God  has  told  us  in  unmistake- 
able  language  that  in  the  closing  hours  of 
this  age  many  will  depart  from  the  faith  once 
for  all  delivered  to  the  saints,  the  church  will 
refuse  to  endure  sound  doctrine,  false  teach- 
ers will  enter  in,  denying  the  Lord  that  bought 
them ;  denying  his  virgin  birth,  his  resurrec- 
tion and  his  coming  again ;  teachers  who  will 
turn  the  people  from  the  truth  and  turn  them 
to  fables,  the  wisdom  and  conceit  of  men. 
Holy  Scripture  tells  us  that  when  these  things 
begin  to  come  to  pass  the  true  Christian  is  to 
look  up,  lift  up  his  head  for  his  redemption 
draweth  nigh ;  the  Lord  himself  will  come  and 
will  take  the  true  church  to  himself  and  pour- 
ing forth  his  fierce  but  long  delayed  judgments 
on  the  earth,  vindicate  the  righteousness  and 
the  truth  of  God. 

The  New  Religion  is  one  of  the  signs  of 
the  times. 

It  is  a  witness  that  God  is  making  the  wrath 
of  man  to  praise  him  by  verifying  his  Word 
in  fulfilment  of  the  very  evils  and  iniquities 
it  has  foretold. 

Where  do  you  stand  ? 

Do  you  stand  with  the  old  religion,  the  re- 
ligion of  your  fathers  and  mothers,  the  re- 
ligion that  has  filled  the  world  with  sweetness 
ind  light,  carried  it  through  the  breakers  of 


tHE    NEW   RELlGlOhJ  14'^ 

Sin  and  shame  and  given  it  the  saving  vision 
of  heaven  and  God;  or,  do  you  stand  with 
that  new  rehgion  which  denies  the  Bible  of 
God,  the  God  of  the  Bible,  and  rejects  that 
Christ  of  the  cross  and  the  empty  grave  who 
has  said,  "No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father 
but  by  me?" 

Do  you  stand  with  that  new  religion  which 
begins  with  a  doubt,  ends  with  a  guess,  and 
has  no  to-morrow? 

Where  do  vou  stand? 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT 
IS  WRITTEN 

OR 

The  Exaltation  of  Human  Wisdom  Above 
the  Word  of  God 

"Learn  in  us  not  to  think  above  that  which 
is  written." — I  Corinthians  4:  6. 

"Thus  saith  the  Lords  of  hosts,  Hearken 
not  unto  the  words  of  the  prophets  that 
prophesy  unto  you ;  they  make  you  vain ;  they 
speak  a  vision  of  their  own  heart,  and  not  out 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord.  They  say  unto 
them  that  despise  me.  The  Lord  hath  said, 
Ye  shall  have  peace ;  and  they  say  unto  every 
one  that  walketh  after  the  imagination  of  his 
own  heart,  No  evil  shall  come  upon  you.  For 
who  hath  stood  in  the  counsel  of  the  Lord,  and 
hath  perceived  and  heard  his  word?  who  hath 
marked  his  word  and  heard  it?  Behold  a 
whirlwind  of  the  Lord  is  gone  forth  in  fury, 
even  a  grievous  whirlwind:  it  shall  fall 
grievously  upon  the  head  of  the  wicked. 

"The  anger  of  the  Lord  shall  not  return,  un- 
til he  have  executed,  and  till  he  have  per- 


THINKING  ABOVE   WHAT   IS  WRITTEN     151 

formed  the  thoughts  of  his  heart :  in  the  latter 
days  ye  shall  consider  it  perfectly. 

"I  have  not  sent  these  prophets,  yet  they 
van:  I  have  not  spoken  to  them,  yet  they 
prophesied. 

"But  if  they  had  stood  in  my  counsel,  and 
had  caused  my  people  to  hear  my  words,  then 
they  should  have  turned  them  from  their  evil 
vi^ay,  and  from  the  evil  of  their  doings. 

"I  have  heard  what  the  prophets  said,  that 
prophesy  lies  in  my  name,  saying,  I  have 
dreamed,  I  have  dreamed. 

"How  long  shall  this  be  in  the  hearts  of  the 
prophets  that  prophesy  lies?  Yea,  they  are 
prophets  of  the  deceit  of  their  own  heart: 

"Which  think  to  cause  my  people  to  forget 
my  name  by  their  dreams,  which  they  tell 
every  man  to  his  neighbour     *     *     * 

"The  prophet  that  hath  a  dream,  let  him 
tell  a  dream;  and  he  that  hath  my  word,  let 
him  speak  my  word  faithfully.  What  is  the 
chaff  to  the  wheat?  said  the  Lord. 

"Is  not  my  word  like  as  a  fire?  saith  the 
Lord;  and  like  a  hammer  that  breaketh  the 
rock  in  pieces? 

"Therefore,  behold,  I  am  against  the 
prophets,  saith  the  Lord,  that  steal  my  words 
every  one  from  his  neighbour." — Jeremiah  23 : 
16-30. 

"The  holy  scriptures  which  are  able  to 
*nake  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith 
'.yhich  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 


152  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

"All  scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of 
God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof, 
for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteous- 
ness; 

"That  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thor- 
oughly furnished  unto  all  good  works. 

"I  charge  thee,  therefore,  before  God,  and 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  judge  the 
quick  and  the  dead  and  by  his  appearing  and 
kingdom ; 

"Preach  the  word ;  be  instant  in  season,  out 
of  season ;  reprove,  rebuke,  exhort,  with  all 
long  suffering  and  doctrine. 

"For  the  time  will  come  when  they  will  not 
endure  sound  doctrine ;  but  after  their  own 
lusts  shall  they  heap  to  themselves  teachers, 
having  itching  ears ; 

"And  they  shall  turn  away  their  ears  from 
the  truth,  and  shall  be  turned  unto  fables." — 
II  Timothy  3:  15-17;  4:  1-4. 

There  is  at  present  a  widespread  movement 
to  exalt  human  wisdom  in  the  Christian  pulpit. 
This  wisdom  calls  itself  by  the  high  sounding 
title  of  "scholarship."  It  professes  to  be  scien- 
tific, philosophic  and  liberal.  It  finds  its  in- 
spiration in  the  research  and  achievements  of 
human  genius.  Its  authority  is  the  text  book 
of  modern  culture.  Its  apostles  are  the  scien- 
tists, the  philosophers  and  the  advanced  think- 
ers of  the  age.  It  places  the  Bible  in  a  sec- 
ondary plane  and  demands  that  it  shall  be  in- 
terpreted or  modified  according  to  the  thought 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN     153 

of  the  hour.  It  Is  dogmatic,  laying  down 
rules  and  setting  up  standards.  It  is  intoler- 
ant and  almost  contemptuous  of  that  preach- 
ing which  bases  itself  alone  upon  a  "thus 
saith  the  Lord."  Its  sacramental  phrase  is 
"Scholarship  is  agreed/'  From  tliis  self- 
elected  tribunal  it  warns  all  who  do  not  agree 
with  it  that  they  are  declassed  and  unworthy 
of  an  interested  hearing.  It  is  full  of  boast- 
ing. It  boasts  that  it  is  advanced,  up  to  date 
and  sane.  It  boasts  that  it  is  driving  away 
the  fogs  and  mists  which  have  hitherto  gath- 
ered round  the  theologic  arena  and  that  it  is 
slowly,  but  surely,  bringing  in  the  millennial 
era  of  a  clear,  self-respecting  and  reasonable 
religion. 

It  is  a  movement  wholly  human  in  its  origin, 
its  method  and  outcome. 

Over  against  it  stands  the  apostolic  concept 
as  expressed  in  the  ministry  of  the  Apostle 
Paul.  He  refused  to  allow  merely  human 
wisdom  to  enter  his  pulpit.  He  declared  offi- 
cially that  his  preaching  was  not  with  enticing 
words  of  man's  wisdom,  and  he  lays  it  down 
as  a  definite  postulate  that  the  Christian  min- 
ister is  to  learn  through  contemplation  of  him 
and  his  co-apostles,  "not  to  think  above  that 
which  is  written." 

And  yet,  if  any  man  ever  could  have 
thought  above  the  written  Word;  if  ever  a 
man  could  have  spoken  in  the  words  of 
human  wisdom  and  with  scientific  accent,  it 


154  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

was  this  man  Paul.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Jewish  Sanhedrin.  He  had  sat  at  the  feet  of 
Gamaliel,  the  greatest  teacher  of  his  times. 
He  was  not  only  versed  in  the  Hebrew  scrip- 
tures, he  knew  thoroughly  Hebrew  literature. 
He  was  an  adept  in  the  Talmud,  that  monu- 
mental work  which  requires  years  of  study 
simply  to  master  the  outlines  of  its  hair  split- 
ting' definitions  and  the  metaphysical  ramifica- 
tions of  its  tortuous  and  subtle  casuistry.  He 
was  a  Latinist  as  well  as  a  Hebraist.  He  knew 
Roman  philosophy  although  it  was  taught  by 
Greek  professors.  If  he  was  fluent  in  Latin, 
he  was  at  home  in  Greek,  and  in  one  of  his 
sermons  quotes  easily  and  readily  from  the 
Greek  anthology.  All  this  education  and  cul- 
ture was  added  to  a  mind  of  extraordinary 
vigor,  a  mind  keen,  analytic,  forensic,  judicial. 
If  he  could  pull  apart  he  could  put  together. 
If  he  analyzed,  he  synthetized.  His  statements 
are  at  times  concrete  and  absolutely  dynamic. 
His  conclusions  are  reached  from  premises 
stated  with  unfaltering  precision.  If  he 
had  desired  he  might  have  spoken  in 
such  fashion  that  his  hearers  would  have  been 
carried  away  with  enthusiasm  and  crowned 
him  at  once  as  orator,  logician  and  scientist. 
But  he  did  nothing  of  this.  He  refused  to 
follow  such  methods.  He  declared  that  he 
was  sent  not  to  preach  with  the  wisdom  of 
words,  lest  the  faith  of  those  who  heard  him 
should  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men  and  not 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN       1  55 

in  the  power  of  Grod.  He  warns  the  Colos- 
sians  against  those  preachers  who  would  seek 
to  spoil  them  with  philosophy  and  vain  deceit, 
after  the  tradition  of  men,  and  he  exhorts 
Timothy  not  to  be  seduced  by  the  "oppositions 
of  science  falsely  so  called." 

To  Paul,  the  science  of  that  day,  the 
gnosis  of  that  hour;  to  Paul,  the  so 
called  science  of  this  moment,  the  science 
that  laughs  at  the  idea  of  miracles,  ties 
God  up  in  his  own  creation,  makes  him 
the  galley  slave  of  the  laws  and  forces  which 
he  himself  has  created,  turns  this  world  into  a 
vast  chemical  laboratory  without  a  chemist,  or 
a  huge  engine  room  with  no  suspicion  of  a 
supreme  engineer  behind  it;  the  science  that 
denies  the  God  of  the  Bible,  robs  the  world  of 
the  Christ  of  the  Bible  and,  finally,  shredding 
the  Bible  apart  page  by  page,  discounts  it  and 
wrenches  it  loose  from  the  pulpit  as  no  longer 
the  inerrant  Word  of  God :  that  science  to  Paul 
was,  and  would  be,  contemptible. 

And  why  not? 

What  has  science  done  that  it  is  entitled  to 
enter  the  Christian  pulpit  and  set  aside  the 
written  Word  as  no  longer  a  full  and  com- 
plete revelation  from  God  ? 

There  are  seven  great  riddles  which  laugh 
in  the  face  of  the  most  accomplished  science. 

1.  The  riddle  of  force  and  matter. 

We  know  absolutely  nothing  about  the  ra- 
tionale of  force  and  matter  that  was  not  known 


156  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

by  Plato,  Aristotle  and  Epictetus.  They  knew 
the  immutability  of  force  and  nature.  What- 
ever we  know  of  application  and  relation  has 
only  heightened  the  essential  mystery. 

2.  The  origin  of  motion. 

Everything  is  in  motion.  The  things  we  call 
solid  are  made  up  of  atoms  quivering  with 
molecular  action.  The  solid  beam  of  iron  or 
steel  on  which  our  giant  constructions  rest  are 
so  many  atoms  each  separate  from  the  other 
and  all  in  motion.  The  bullet  that  speeds 
through  air  to  its  determined  mark  is,  as  has 
been  well  said,  not  a  solid  but  a  mass  of 
moving  atoms  like  a  swarm  of  bees.  The 
atoms  in  a  pinhead  it  has  been  calculated 
would  require  250,000  years  to  count;  and 
these  are  sweeping  about  each  other  like  so 
many  revolving  worlds.  This  earth  with  the 
stellar  universe,  even  while  you  hear  these 
words,  has  been  plunging  through  new  space 
at  a  speed  terrific  to  contemplate  and  on  a 
course  to  which  it  never  can  return.  All  is  in 
motion  and  the  great  question  is,  how  did  this 
motion  begin ;  where  and  what  was  the  power 
able  to  overcome  the  inertia  apparently  inher- 
ent in  every  atom  and  body  ?  And  science  can- 
not tell,  it  can  only  face  the  proposition  and 
be  speechless. 

And  face  to  face  with  a  fact  for  which  it 
has  no  reason  and  no  logic,  it  dares  to  simper 
about  the  impossibility  of  miracles, 

3,  The  origin  of  life, 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN       1  5  7 

What  is  life? 

There  is  not  a  dictionary  in  the  world  that 
can  give  a  decent  answer.  Science  has  no  re- 
sponse that  is  worth  repeating. 

What  relation  has  mind  to  matter?  What 
is  mind?  On  what  basis  will  a  scientist  ac- 
count for  a  spiritual  deduction  from  the  fact 
of  matter?    He  cannot  account  for  it. 

What  is  death? 

Death  is  an  unsolved  mystery.  The  scalpel 
and  the  knife  of  the  physician  have  not  been 
able  to  find  the  soul  or  the  mind;  the  acutest 
instrument  ever  invented  has  not  been  able  to 
get  a  single  articulation  from  the  other  side  of 
death. 

What  is  the  process  of  life,  what  is  its 
r";t-.iiir  Kaiii  ~,;;\-  that  life  is  a  trial  iu  whicli 
at  last  the  strongest  and  the  best  equipped 
must  succumb.  Schopenhauer  tells  us,  practic- 
ally, that  we  are  all  fools  living  in  a  fool 
world,  fooled  with  the  idea  and  the  promise  of 
life. 

How  life  began,  from  what,  and  why  it  be- 
gan, are  impenetrable  mysteries  to  the  most 
profound  and  lettered  science. 

4.  The  fitness  and  the  adaptation  of  things 
in  nature. 

Everywhere  there  is  adaptation  of  means 
to  an  end.  Nothing  is  jumbled,  pell-mell,  hit 
or  miss.  The  keener  the  microscopic  investi- 
gation, the  more  thoroughly  it  is  demonstrated 
that  all  things  are  stamped  with  design  and 


158  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

fitted  into  relationships.  What  is  the  reason 
for  this  fitness?  Why  do  certain  forces  at- 
tract and  others  repel?  Why  do  qualities 
carry  their  continuance  through  all  sorts  of 
combination?  Why  do  things  keep  to  their 
nature  and  never  cross  or  mix  or  get  con- 
founded in  their  ultimates? 

And  science  cannot  tell. 

It  can  give  you  a  lot  of  formulas,  fill  your 
ears  with  words,  fool  you  with  what  it  calls 
the  technical,  and  then  land  you  in  the  final 
analysis,  in  the  fact  that  your  question  has 
simply  been  pushed  further  backward  and  not 
answered, 

5.  The  riddle  of  consciousness. 

Consciousness  is  that  something  or  some- 
what by  which  I  know  that  I  am  not  you  and 
that  you  are  not  I ;  that  I  am  distinct  from 
that  which  is  not  a  part  of  me.  What  is  that 
by  which  I  feel  pain  or  joy  or  sorrow?  The 
scientist  will  tell  me  that  it  is  the  telegraphic 
system  in  me  called  nerves,  and  that  the 
nerves  telegraph  sensation  from  the 
register  of  the  brain.  But  the 
brain  is  not  I,  the  brain  is  only  my  signal 
board,  my  typewriter,  it  is  one  of  my  machines 
— it  is  not  I — myself.  What  then  is  that  final 
thing  in  me  that  knows  and  distinguishes  sen- 
sations— that  thing  we  call  consciousness  ?  And 
science  cannot  tell — the  riddle  of  conscious- 
ness laughs  loud  and  long — but  science  is 
dumb. 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN      1  59 

6,  The  riddle  of  thought. 

Thought !  that  is  a  great  thing — a  thought. 
I  speak  a  word,  it  strikes  on  your  ear,  it  enters 
your  mind,  it  dissolves,  it  touches  hidden 
springs,  it  becomes  thought,  it  multiplies  into 
a  thousand  other  thoughts,  each  thought  sug- 
gesting another.  You  think  these  thoughts  in 
words  not  spoken  and  of  which  you  are  at  the 
time  unconscious.  Scenes,  ideas,  conceptions, 
arise  and  march  through  your  mind,  your 
brain.  At  the  utterance  or  sight  of  a  word, 
or  as  the  result  of  a  sensation,  you  say,  *T 
thought,  I  think.  I  had  a  thought  about  it." 
What  is  a  thought?  Ask  science.  Science  will 
think  thoughts  but  it  cannot  tell  you  what  a 
thought  is ;  and  yet,  this  incapable  science  rises 
up  and  wishes  to  say  what  shall  be  thought 
and  not  thought  in  a  Christian  pulpit. 

7.  The  riddle  of  the  will. 

There  is  something  in  the  world  stronger 
than  steam,  gasolene,  dynamite,  picric  acid  or 
electricity.  That  something  is  the  human  will. 
It  carries  men  tip  the  mountain  peak,  it  en- 
ables them  to  descend  into  the  mines  of  earth. 
By  reason  of  that  will  men  leave  home  and 
friends  and  fortune.  That  will  carries  them 
in  the  wild  charge  up  the  steep  ascent  where 
the  belching  cannon  are  the  mouths  of  hell. 
That  will  stands  and  defies  any  will  however 
supreme.  What  is  that  thing  within  which  is 
stronger  than  the  hope  of  life  and  the  fear  of 
death? 


160  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

And  science  cannot  tell. 

What  does  science  know  about  sin;  that 
something  in  the  world  that  is  a  poison,  a 
weakness,  a  devil,  a  tyrant,  an  enemy,  a  temp- 
ter and  utter  destruction  ?  What  does  science 
know  about  transmission  or  that  heredity  it 
seeks  to  deny?  What  does  it  know  about 
causation?  Nay!  science  does  not  know  the 
reason  for  the  very  first  proposition  in  its  own 
mathematics. 

Why  do  two  and  two  make  four? 

If  you  were  offered  a  billion  of  golden  dol- 
lars and  given  a  billion  of  years  to  find  out,  you 
would  know  no  more  at  the  end  of  that  time 
than  you  do  now.  There  is  not  a  being  on 
earth  can  tell.  Tv/o  and  two  do  make  four 
and  that  is  all  you  know  or  can  know  about  it. 
There  is  not  a  scientist  in  the  world  can  tell 
why.  And  yet  this  science  dares  to  talk  about 
the  unreason  of  miracles.  This  is  the  thing 
that  demands  an  entrance  into  our  pulpits. 

And  who  are  the  men  who  would  come  in 
the  name  of  science,  the  scientific  thought,  en- 
ter the  Christian  pulpit  and  demand  the  right 
to  interpret  the  revelation  from  God?  Who 
are  these  men  and  what  is  their  title  to  exalt 
scholarship  so  called  and  human  wisdom  in 
the  church  of  Christ,  in  the  very  sanctuary 
of  the  church  ?  Have  these  men  more  and 
better  books  than  other  men?  Do  they  read 
more,  search  more?  Are  they  better  trained? 
Are  they  mentally  superior  to  their  fellow  min- 
isters ?     Are  they  more  honest  ? 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN      1  61 

To  affirm  so  is  to  insult  men  whose  right- 
eousness is  as  strong  in  fibre  as  the  honesty  of 
God.  To  affirm  so  is  to  insult  men  whose 
minds,  whose  genius,  place  them  in  the  cate- 
gory of  princes  in  the  realm  of  intellect.  To 
affirm  so  is  to  insult  men  who  have  brought 
their  minds  under  a  discipline  more  severe, 
more  intense  and  more  continuous,  than  that  of 
the  grenadier  guards  of  the  German  Emperor. 
To  affirm  all  this  is  to  set  up  an  indecency 
of  self-conceit  that  might  well  bring  the  blush 
to  a  brazen  image. 

And  what  have  these  men  accomplished 
with  their  scientific  method  in  respect  to  the 
Bible?  They  ran  full  haste  to  the  pulpit, 
climbed  into  it  and,  panting  for  breath,  told 
the  gaping,  terrorized  crowd  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  Moses  to  have  written  the  Penta- 
teuch because  at  the  date  assigned  to  the  Mo- 
saic authorship  writing  was  not  known.  And 
then  some  thoughtless  archaeologist  dug  up  a 
whole  town  in  that  far  Eastern  land  filled  with 
books  and  bearing  indisputable  witness  that 
writing  had  existed  some  hundreds  of  years 
before  Moses  was  born.  Then  again  these 
preachers  with  the  scientific  method  came 
rushing  out  of  breath  to  say  that  the  four- 
teenth chapter  of  Genesis  was  absolute  un- 
truth; that  no  such  kings  as  recorded  there 
ever  existed.  And  then  that  same  ridiculous 
archaeologist  dug  his  persistent  spade  into  the 
ground  and  turned  over  some  stones  bearing 


162  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

the  very  names  of  those  kings  and  carrying 
the  dust  of  the  very  age  in  which  scripture 
affirmed  they  had  lived. 

What  have  these  men  succeeded  in  doing 
but  setting  up  first  one  standard  of  authority, 
then  another,  denying  later  on  each  standard 
in  turn  till,  in  the  end,  their  science  is  more 
contradictory  and  out  of  joint  than  the  Bible 
they  seek  to  mend. 

What  shall  be  said  of  this  science  but  that 
at  the  best  the  moment  it  enters  the  Christian 
pulpit  and  begins  to  handle  the  Word  of  God, 
it  shows  itself  to  be  nothing  better  than  a 
worthless  ecclesiastical  shoddyism. 

And  over  against  it  stands  the  Apostolic 
concept  and  method  as  set  forth  pre-eminently 
by  the  Apostle  Paul,  contradicting  the  modern 
method  and  its  so  called  scholarship  and 
science — contradicting  it  in  theme,  authority 
and  power. 

Consider  the  apostolic  theme. 

The  Apostle  Paul  did  not  preach  the  refor- 
mation of  government.  He  never  tried  to 
crowd  his  church  with  "civic"  meetings,  filling 
his  pulpit  with  ward  agitators  and  town  politi- 
cians. He  never  railed  against  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  Roman  empire.  And  yet  those 
corruptions  were  all  about  him.  He  lived  in 
an  atmosphere  of  bribe  taking  and  bribe  giv- 
ing, such  as  the  world  has  never  since  known. 
It  is  true,  in  some  respects,  the  Roman  govern- 
ment was  the  best  the  sun  ever  shone  upon; 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN      1 63 

in  others,  the  most  corrupt,  most  vile  and  de- 
structive. And  yet  it  is  this  Apostle  Paul  who 
says,  "submit  to  the  powers  that  be;  for  the 
powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God." 

He  never  raised  his  voice  or  sent  out  his 
writings  against  the  vice  and  licentiousness  of 
the  times.  And  yet  that  vice  and  that  licen- 
tiousness poured  their  turgid  tide  all  about 
him.  He  saw  vice  exalted  as  virtu'^  and  virtue 
denied  as  vice.  He  saw  sin  glorified  in  panels 
of  marble,  framed  in  silver  and  gold,  portrayed 
in  pictures,  and  almost  speaking  in  statues. 
He  saw  it  in  living  and  beautiful  flesh,  with 
eloquent  eyes  and  extended,  inviting  hands, 
and  words  that  caressed  and  claimed  submis- 
sion to  mad  desire  and  shameless  passion. 

He  delivered  no  philippics  upon  the  impur- 
ity of  the  world,  to  the  world  itself. 

He  raised  no  testimony  against  ".he  wrongs 
of  society. 

And  yet  they  were  without  number.  At 
every  turn  he  saw  men  toiling  for  a  stipend. 
He  heard  the  cry  of  unpaid  wages.  He  saw 
sixty  millions  of  slaves  whose  individual  lives 
were  not  worth  so  much  as  a  kenneled  dog. 
So  far  from  lifting  up  his  voice  against  these 
things  he  exhorts  to  submission  and  peace. 

These  were  not  his  theme.  He  did  not 
preach  civilization  and  moral  progress,  but 
everlasting  life.  His  theme  found  ♦^-'spression 
in  the  concrete  utterance,  "I  determmed  not 


164  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

to  know  anything  among  you,  save  Jesus 
Christ,  and  him  crucified." 

That  was  his  theme. 

Consider  his  authority. 

His  authority  was  primarily  the  old  Hebrew 
scriptures,  those  scriptures  which  the  scientist 
and  the  modern  scientific  preacher  repudiate  as 
a  bundle  of  old  wives  fables  and  frauds ;  the 
scriptures  which  Jesus  Christ  himself 
avouched  as  inspired  of  God,  claimed  as  wit- 
ness to  his  person,  work  and  office,  and  ex- 
pounded until  the  hearts  of  his  disciples 
burned  within  them. 

"Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  was  his  authority. 

Behold  him  there  at  Thessalonica  for  three 
successive  Saturdays  entering  the  synagogue 
and  opening  and  alleging  that  Christ  must 
needs  suffer,  die  and  be  raised  again  the  third 
day,  and  declaring  that  this  Jesus  whom  he 
preached  unto  them  was  the  very  Christ.  He 
reasoned,  he  exhorted  out  of  these  old  scrip- 
tures. He  went  into  the  book  of  Leviticus, 
as  his  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  proves,  and 
showed  them  how  the  five  great  offerings  there 
recorded  found  their  fulfilment  in  the  cross 
of  Christ.  He  pointed  to  the  Tabernacle  and 
testified  that  every  board  and  bar,  every  cord 
and  pin,  and  curtain  and  vessel,  set  forth  the 
person,  the  work,  and  the  office  of  Christ ;  and 
that  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth  every  typical  and 
prophetic  detail  found  its  completion  and  full 
fruition. 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN      1  65 

He  set  the  written  Word  up  as  his  authority. 

He  went  further.  He  laid  it  down  as  a  law 
for  every  Christian,  and  specially  for  every 
Christian  preacher  and  teacher  "not  to  think 
above  that  which  is  written." 

And  why  not? 

Surely  the  answer  is  self-evident.  Apart 
from  the  New  Testament  Jesus  Christ  is  no 
more  historical  than  some  fabled  character  of 
human  fiction.  Cut  out  the  New  Testament, 
and  all  that  Josephus  says,  or  Pliny  and  the 
rest  of  them,  as  outside  witnesses,  is  not  worth 
the  paper  on  which  it  is  written. 

Talk  about  modifying,  clarifying,  editing 
the  New  Testament!  The  New  Testament 
must  be  its  own  authority,  just  as  the  grain 
of  wheat  seed  must  carry  the  demonstration 
of  its  quality  within.  It  must  be  all  of  the 
New  Testament  or  none  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. And,  as  the  New  Testament  is 
the  fruit  of  the  old,  it  must  be  a  whole  Bible  or 
no  Bible.  All  the  written  word  or  none,  as  the 
supreme  authority.  And  Paul  sets  up  the 
written  Word  as  supreme  authority  and  or- 
dains that  the  Christian  shall  not  think  above 
that  which  is  written. 

And  why  not  be  obedient  to  this  law? 

This  is  the  only  book  that  gives  an  intelli- 
gent answer  to  the  questions  concerning  the 
origin  of  creation. 

Listen  to  the  opening  words  of  the  Bible. 


166  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

In  all  language  there  is  nothing  so  sublime  as 
this  postulate: 

"In  the  beginning  God!" 

Where  can  you  match  that?  All  that  you 
can  think,  the  premise  of  every  possible 
thought  you  can  think  through  endless  mil- 
lions of  ages,  in  four  words. 

"IN  THE  BEGINNING— GOD." 

GOD — here  is  the  raison  d'etre  of  creation 
Here  is  the  statement  that  meets  every  ques- 
tion. 

Put  this  over  against  the  so  called  scientific 
idea  that  creation  originates  in  an  infinites- 
imal atom,  or  the  dull  machine  concept  of 
uniformitarianism,  of  an  eternally  unbegun 
creation,  a  creation  that  springs  out  of  un- 
thinking matter  and  not  from  original  mind ; 
put  these  concepts  over  against  the  idea  of 
a  supreme  personal  intellect  having  all  re- 
sources in  himself  and  by  the  fiat  of  his  will 
producing  a  creation  whose  every  atom  is 
stamped  with  the  sign  mark  of  infinite  intel- 
lectuality and  wisdom,  and  how  utterly  im- 
becile and  idiotic  they  seem;  and  how,  on  the 
contrary,  the  idea  of  a  supreme  personality 
meets  and  satisfies  the  sense  of  personalism 
and  intelligence  in  us. 

In  other  words,  we  feel  that  intellect  must 
come  from  intellect,  personality  from  personal- 
ity and  the  ability  to  say  "I  will"  from  some 
original  force  that  said,  "Thou  shalt." 

And  this  satisfying  an^^wer  concerning  the 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN       1  67 

origin  of  creation  and  the  quickening  of 
thought  it  brings,  is  to  be  found  alone  in  the 
written  Word. 

This  book  is  the  only  one  in  the  world  that 
gives  an  adequate  account  of  the  origin  of  sin. 
This  book  tells  you  the  immense  truth  that  sin 
originated  in  the  clash  of  two  independent 
wills,  the  free  will  of  God  and  the  one  time 
free  will  of  man.  God  said  "I  will"  and  man 
said,  "I  will  not."  God  willed  but  man  would 
not,  and  God's  defied  will  became  in  man  the 
sin  that  has  paralyzed  the  world  for  sixty  cen- 
turies in  its  relation  to  the  intellect  and  the 
heart  of  God.  This  book  is  the  alone  Word  that 
gives  an  answer  to  the  questions  of  life ;  for 
it  is  written  therein  that  in  God  as  the  infinite 
and  all-sufficient  environment,  "we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being."  This  written 
Word  is  the  only  book  that  pulls  aside  the  veil 
after  death,  throws  the  flashlight  of  hope  into 
an  empty  grave  and  gives  the  picture  of  an 
immortal  man  on  the  throne  of  the  Highest. 

Learn  not  to  think  above  what  is  written. 

The  exhortation  is  justified. 

Consider  the  source  of  apostolic  power. 

Not  for  a  moment  did  the  Apostle  Paul  or 
any  of  his  co-workers  depend  upon  any  trick 
of  oratory,  or  logic,  or  human  attainment,  or 
wisdom.  There  was  but  one  power  they 
sought — the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and 
of  power. 


168  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

And  the  Spirit  is  always  seen  operating  in 
connection  with  the  written  Word. 

Look  there  at  Pentecost — three  thousand 
converted  in  a  day ;  at  another  time  five  thou- 
sand men  alone.  And  the  preacher  Simon 
Peter  with  the  smell  of  the  fish  scarcely  off  his 
hands.  Simon  Peter,  who  never  saw  the  in- 
side of  a  school  of  the  prophets.  Whence  his 
astounding  success?  In  this,  that  he  preached 
the  written  Word  and  the  Spirit  of  the  living 
God  quickened  the  minds  of  the  hearers  and 
opened  their  hearts  to  receive  it. 

And  thus  it  has  been  down  the  ages. 
Wherever  there  has  been  a  true  revival  it 
lias  always  been  the  operation  of  the  Spirit  in 
connection  with  and  in  exaltation  of  the 
written  Word. 

And  the  reason  is  self-evident.  The  written 
Word  is  the  tongue  of  the  Spirit.  Without 
the  Spirit  the  Word  is  dead.  Without  the 
Word  the  Spirit  is  dumb.  The  Word  is  a 
seed.  Without  the  Spirit  it  cannot  germinate 
and  quicken  the  soul.  The  rain  and  sunshine 
on  the  earth  are  of  no  avail  unless  the  seed 
be  sown  within.  Any  revival  without  the 
Word  has  been  fictitious  and  ephemeral. 

And  here  is  the  answer  to  the  question 
"What  is  the  matter  with  the  church?" 

The  matter  is,  the  Word  is  not  preached; 
or,  when  it  is  preached  it  is  set  forth  v/ith  an 
apology  or  openly  falsified  and  denied. 

There  can  be  no  genuine   revival  till  the 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN      1  69 

written    Word  is  exalted  and   made  supreme. 

You  may  make  all  the  evangelistic  plans  in 
the  world ;  so  long  as  some  of  the  men  en- 
gaged in  the  movement  are  apostles  of  the 
Higher  Criticism,  are  advocates  of  modern 
scholarship  as  the  standard  of  Biblical  inter- 
pretation and  statement,  there  can  be  no  re- 
vival. How  is  it  possible  for  a  revival  to  take 
place  in  a  church  where  the  preacher  throws 
doubt  on  the  virgin  birth  of  Christ,  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body  and  the  integrity  of  Holy 
Scripture  ? 

The  Spirit  of  God  cannot  work  through  a 
lie — and  such  preaching  is  a  lie.  If  additions 
come  to  such  a  church,  if  there  are  reported 
conversions,  they  are  fake  conversions ;  they 
are  simply  the  evolution  of  the  natural  right- 
eousness in  the  individual.  The  Spirit  of 
God  cannot  fellowship  the  denial  of  the  per- 
son, the  work  and  the  office  of  the  Son  of 
God. 

Let  a  preacher  once  get  bitten  with  this  idea 
of  modern  scholarship  in  his  preaching  and 
teaching.  Let  him  begin  to  make  Herbert 
Spencer  and  the  rest  of  the  ilk  his  source  of 
information  and  inspiration,  and  it  is  a  dead 
certainty  that  he  will,  sooner  or  later,  end  in  re- 
pudiating the  Christianity  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  the  Bible  as  the  complete  and  in- 
fallible Word  of  God. 

Let  a  Church  get  under  the  spell  of  such 
teaching  and  eventually,  but   easily  and  un- 


I  /O  THE    SIGNS    OF   THE    TIMES 

consciously,  it  will  begin  to  break  down  the 
standards  and  repudiate  one  by  one  the  funda- 
mentals of  the  faith. 

And  this  is  the  ultimate  to  which  that 
preaching  leads  which  exalts  human  wisdom 
above  the  written  Word  of  God, 

And  I  charge  those  who  preach  in  this 
fashion  with  being  sappers  and  miners  in  the 
church  of  Christ.  They  turn  the  pulpit  into 
the  wooden  horse  of  Troy.  It  was  a  smart 
trick  on  the  part  of  those  Greeks  to  get 
inside  the  beleagured  city  and  overthrow  its 
gallant  defenders  at  the  walls.  These  preach- 
ers come  into  the  pulpit  in  the  name  of  the 
higher  reason  and  the  sanity  of  the  hour,  and 
then  let  loose  a  whole  body  of  armed  infidelity 
to  knock  down  and  destroy,  if  possible,  the 
walls  of  salvation. 

This  preaching  is  indeed  subtle. 

It  talks  about  Christ !  But  what  Christ?  I 
answer,  the  Christ  of  Bethlehem  and  not  the 
Christ  of  the  cross.  If  now  and  then  it 
is  persuaded  to  refer  to  the  cross,  it  means 
that  the  death  thereon  was  not  a  penal  sacri- 
fice but  a  useless  martyrdom.  It  talks  about 
the  resurrection,  but  it  means  merely  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  Christ  as  a  spirit  filling  a 
larger  area  of  influence  than  when  confined 
to  his  mortal  body.  It  talks  of  righteousness, 
but  it  is  d  righteousness  without  blood;  a 
righteousness  in  which  Christ  acts  to  the 
natural  man  as  fire  to  hidden  writing,  his  ex- 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN      1  7 1 

ample,  his  life  as  he  lived  it  on  the  earth, 
serving  to  bring  out  the  innate  truth  and 
goodness  in  every  man. 

The  Apostle  Paul  has  given  an  earnest 
warning  concerning  this  preaching.  He  de- 
clares that  in  the  last  days  Satan  will  be  trans- 
formed into  an  angel  of  light  and  his  ministers 
into  ministers  of  righteousness — a  righteous- 
ness without  blood — a  devil's  righteousness. 
The  men  who  preach  this  sweetness  and  light 
may  be  the  most  honest  men  in  the  world, 
but  their  message  is  a  lie  and  its  outcome  is 
an  attempt  of  the  Devil  to  destroy  the  truth 
of  God. 

And  this  sort  of  preaching  is  a  sign  of  the 
last  times. 

The  Apostle  Paul  has  warned  us  that  in  the 
closing  hours  of  this  age  the  church  will  be 
filled  with  teachers  who  shall  turn  the  pro- 
fessed followers  of  Christ  away  from  the  truth 
and  shall  turn  them  to  fables. 

The  Apostle  Peter  testifies  that  these  teach- 
ers will  deny  the  Lord  that  bought  them  and 
mocking  at  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Second 
Coming  shall  say,  "Where  is  the  promise  of 
his  coming?  for  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep, 
all  things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  creation." 

The  Son  of  God  has  declared  that  as  this 
dispensation  draws  to  its  end,  the  assaults 
against  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints 
will  be  made  in  his  name  and  in  the  name  of 


172  THE  SIGNS  OP  THE   TIMES 

truth;  that  the  perilous  times  of  the  church 
will  not  be  because  of  the  multiplication  of 
iniquity  and  sin,  but  because  of  the  claims  of 
a  Christianity  not  inspired  of  the  Spirit;  a 
Christianity  that  in  the  name  of  Christ  shall 
do  many  wonderful  works,  wonderful  enough 
to  deceive,  if  it  were  possible,  the  very  elect, 
but  against  whose  deception  the  Lord  has 
warned  in  earnest  and  unmeasured  terms. 

He  announces  that  at  the  close  of  this  hour 
of  grace  and  just  before  he  descends  to  earth 
once  more,  the  faith  which  he  himself  inspired 
will  have  waned  and  fallen  away. 

This  preaching  then  which  seeks  to  exalt 
human  wisdom  at  the  expense  of  the  written 
Word  and  makes  use  of  the  glamour  of  mod- 
ern scholarship  to  deceive  even  earnest  men, 
is  a  sign  that  the  Coming  of  the  Lord  draweth 
nigh ;  that  he  is  coming  to  repudiate  the  pro- 
fessing church  as  his  witness  in  the  world, 
take  the  true  church  to  himself  and  then  go 
forth  in  judgment  on  a  materialistic  and  god- 
less world. 

It  is  time,  therefore,  that  the  church  should 
arouse. 

It  is  time  that  Christians  should  exalt  the 
written  Word  as  never  before. 

Let  every  church  write  over  its  doors  and 
over  its  pulpit,  "Learn  not  to  think  above 
that  which  is  written." 

Let  the  church  make  this  written  Word  the 
test  of  membership  and  fellowship,  refusing 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN      1  73 

to  admit  to  full  association  any  individual  who 
repudiates  its  integrity,  who  does  not  accept 
its  testimony. 

Let  the  church  make  submission  to  the  writ- 
ten Word  a  test  of  the  pulpit,  allowing  no 
man  to  enter  it  who  does  not  base  his  speech 
unqualifiedly  upon  an  unabridged  "thus  saith 
the  Lord." 

Let  Christians  study  that  Word  as  they 
never  studied  it  before.  Here  only  can  the 
Christian  meet  the  Devil  and  overcome  him. 

This  was  the  method  of  the  Son  of  God. 
To  every  assault  of  Satan  he  answered,  "It  is 
written." 

And  this  must  be  the  method  now. 

To  achieve  this  method  there  must  be  a  deep 
and  earnest  study  of  the  written  Word. 

The  Christian  who  reads  and  studies 
everything  else  under  heaven  but  his  Bible 
is  like  the  soldier  who  exercises  with  every- 
thing else  but  his  gun  or  his  sword ;  when  the 
enemy  comes  he  is  of  no  avail. 

The  Christian  who  cannot  give  a  reason- 
able answer  for  the  hope  that  is  within  him — 
and  he  cannot  if  he  does  not  study  faithfully 
the  written  Word — the  Christian  who  cannot 
give  that  answer  by  a  "thus  it  is  written/'  is 
defeated  before  he  begins. 

Let  a  Christian  study  the  written  Word  and 
it  will  be  a  test  to  his  own  heart,  it  will  tell 
him  how  much  spiritual  life  he  has  in  him 
bv  the  response  he  makes  to  that  Word. 


174  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

Study  that  Word.  If  it  reveals  you  to  your- 
self, as  when  you  look  within  a  glass,  at  the 
same  time  it  will  set  forth  the  provisions  of 
infinite  grace  and  become  to  you  the  nourish- 
ment by  the  way,  giving  you  through  the 
eternal  Spirit  the  vigor  required  to  live  the 
spiritual  life  and  make  manifest  your  sonship 
with  God,  your  partnership  with  the  coming 
Christ. 

And,  friend  out  of  Christ.  Out  of  Christ! 
what  a  phrase  that  is — it  is  time  that  you 
should  arouse. 

Refuse,  I  pray  you,  to  listen  to  these  men 
who  put  a  bar  sinister  on  the  Christ  of  God ; 
who  keep  his  grave  filled  with  a  dead  man's 
dust;  who  smile  and  mock  and  while  they 
smile,  deny  the  only  Word  that  can  give  you 
hope. 

What  can  science  do  for  you? 

It  cannot  minister  to  a  mind  diseased.  It 
has  no  formula  by  which  it  can  dissolve  the 
sorrow  in  a  tear,  no  power  by  which  it  can 
lift  the  burden  of  the  heart.  When  you  stand 
by  the  grave  of  the  dead  it  has  no  voice  with 
which  to  speak  the  words  of  comfort  to  the 
listening  soul.  It  has  no  light  that  will  pene- 
trate the  gloom  of  death.  It  has  no  vision 
of  the  gates  of  life,  it  dare  not  bid  you  hope. 
It  stands  with  its  theorems  and  postulates  and 
sees  all  its  wisdom  turned  to  folly  in  the 
presence  of  the  great  silence  and  the  endless 


THINKING  ABOVE  WHAT  IS  WRITTEN      1  75 

reach  which,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  wc 
call  eternity. 

No,  science  can  do  nothing  for  you. 

There  is  no  light  or  hope  in  anything  but 
the  written  Word  of  God.  This  Word  that 
has  outlived  the  men  who  denied  it.  This 
Word  that  flings  the  sunlight  of  hope  through 
the  tear  of  despair  and  turns  the  night  of 
weeping  into  the  morning  of  joy.  This  Word 
that  has  sung  its  glad  songs  when  all  the 
world  was  out  of  tune,  this  is  the  Word  you 
must  hear.  Hear  that  Word !  It  is  calling 
unto  you  in  the  rarest  and  clearest  speech  that 
ever  was  heard.  It  is  bidding  you  turn  to 
him  who  is  saying  to  you,  "Come  unto  me  all 
ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden  and  I  will 
give  you  rest." 

Hear  it,  I  pray  you,  before  it  is  too  late, 
before  the  door  is  closed  and  your  priceless 
opportunity  gone  forever. 

Let  me  solemnly  assure  you  that  if  you  re- 
ject this  written  Word  and  the  grace  which  it 
reveals,  when  you  stand  at  the  great  tribunal, 
not  of  a  Saviour  but  a  Judge,  it  will  be  this 
written  Word  that  will  judge  you,  and  the 
voice  of  the  Great  King  will  be  heard  in  your 
ears  saying,  "You  were  exhorted,  not  to  think 
^bov    that  which  is  written." 


THE  DEVIL'S  RIGHTEOUS- 
NESS 

OR 

Cain  Come  to  Town  Again 


"And  no  marvel;  for  Satan  himself  is  trans- 
formed into  an  angel  of  light.  Therefore  it  is 
no  great  thing  if  his  ministers  also  be  trans- 
formed as  the  ministers  of  righteousness ; 
whose  end  shall  be  according  to  their  works. 

Woe  unto  them!  for  they  have  gone  in  the 
way  of  Cain. 

For  they  being  ignorant  of  God's  righteous- 
ness, ajid  going  about  to  establish  their  own 
righteousness,  have  not  submitted  themselves 
unto  the  righteousness  of  God." 

"For  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  right- 
eousness to  every  one  that  believeth. 

And  this  is  his  name  whereby  he  shall  be 
called,  "The  Lord  our  Righteousness."  2.  Cor- 
inthians. 11:14,15.  Jude  11.  Romans  10:3,4. 
Jeremiah  23  :6. 

To  those  who  are  not  blind  or  deaf  to  the 
signs  of  the  times  it  must  be  evident  that 
there  is  at  this  hour  a  world-wide,  universal, 
special,  and  persistent  demand  for  righteous- 
ness. A  demand  for  righteousness  in  personal 
life,  cleanness  in  the  social  relation,  rectitude 


THE  devil's  righteousness         I  77 

in  business,  and  purity  in  government.  Con- 
ning towers  are  erected  at  every  point  of  the 
compass,  filled  with  alert  watchers  equipped 
with  the  latest  appliances  in  the  acoustics  of 
testimony,  and  the  lime-light  of  investigation, 
listening  and  looking  for  the  slightest  failure 
in  individual  and  corporate  responsibility.  A 
false  note  in  the  accentuation  of  truth,  a 
wrong  quotation  in  the  center  of  exchange,  a 
breakdown  in  the  family  circle,  or  a  line  out 
of  plumb  in  the  civic  and  commercial  edifice, 
are  registered,  and  the  vocabulary  of  an  exag- 
gerated vituperation  and  the  phraseology  of 
a  keen,  analytical  denunciation,  are  poured 
forth  like  a  drowning  floodtide  to  sweep  away 
iniquity  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  while 
exhortation  climbs  the  gamut  of  appeal,  bid- 
ding men  to  seek  for  higher  and  nobler  things. 
This  demand  for  righteousness  finds  its 
expression  in  the  modern  pulpit.  The  old- 
fashioned  preaching  of  doctrinal  sermons,  the 
setting  forth  of  the  fundamentals  of  the 
Christian  faith,  have  fallen  into  desuetude. 
The  up-to-date  preacher  now  gives  us  a  fifteen 
or  twenty-minute  moral  essay  in  which  he 
exhorts  his  hearers  to  be  full  of  sweetness  and 
light,  be  kind  and  helpful,  love  justice,  show 
mercy  and,  giving  full  measure  and  keeping 
even  balance,  walk  on  the  plane  of  unques- 
tioned integrity.  The  sacramental  phrase  is, 
"Be  good  and  do  good."  On  this  basis  all 
shades  of  opinion  find  common  ground.  There 


178  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

is  a  revelation  of  solidarity  and  brotherhood. 
This  very  unity  gives  emphasis  and  vigor  to 
the  demand  for  righteousness.  It  is  said  to 
make  for  finality  in  character.  He  who  pos- 
sesses this  character  of  righteousness  can 
stand  with  confidence  before  any  tribunal  of 
earth.  By  the  same  token  he  need  have  no 
fear  to  confront  the  judge  of  the  highest 
court.  As  such  a  character  saves  him  here, 
it  will  save  him  hereafter. 

There  is  nothing  more  popular  than  this 
cult  of  righteousness.  An  examination  of  it, 
however,  yields  some  curious  results.  It  will 
be  found  that  it  does  not  depend  upon  faith 
in  Christ.  It  is  true  it  comes  again  and  again 
in  the  name  of  Christ  But  the  Christ  it  pre- 
sents is  not  the  Christ  of  the  cross.  It  is  the 
Christ  of  Bethlehem,  the  Christ  who  walked 
the  earth.  He  is  described  in  glowing  terms. 
We  behold  the  beauty  of  his  life,  we  feel  the 
tenderness  of  his  words,  and  recognize  the 
helpfulness  of  his  deeds.  He  is  announced  as 
the  great  exemplar,  and  men  are  asked  to  walk 
in  his  footsteps,  to  do  as  he  did.  He  is  said 
to  have  gone  about  doing  good ;  therefore 
men  are  exhorted  to  be  good  as  he  was  good 
and  go  about  doing  the  good  he  did :  learning 
to  be  unselfish,  to  carry  the  burden  of  other 
hearts  and  make  the  world  better  for  the  living 
in  it.  But  with  all  this  panegyric  of  his  char- 
acter and  all  the  exhortation  concerning  his 
example,  he  never  passes  out  of  the  environ- 


THE  devil's  righteousness        179 

ment  of  Bethlehem,  he  never  reaches  the 
cross.  On  the  contrary,  when  you  push  your 
investigation  deeper  into  this  attractive  right- 
eousness, you  will  discover  that  it  unhesitat- 
ingly repudiates  the  cross,  refuses  to  accept 
it  as  the  ground  of  approach  to  God,  or  as  the 
source  of  a  righteousness  alone  acceptable  to 
him.  The  death  of  Christ  is  not  necessary 
to  the  redemption  of  a  single  soul,  and  by  no 
valid  reason  can  it  be  proposed  as  the  only 
hope  of  righteousness  satisfactory  to  God. 
Pushing  the  investigation  to  the  very  core, 
down  to  the  very  roots,  it  is  evident  that  this 
righteousness  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
the  exaltation  and  exploitation  of  human 
nature,  its  culture  and  development,  as  all 
sufficient  both  for  God  and  man. 

In  short,  it  is  the  offering  of  Cain  set  up 
in  the  Twentieth  century. 

You  remember  that  offering.  There  was  an 
altar  piled  high  with  grains  of  the  field,  cov- 
ered with  fruit,  the  apricot,  the  pomegranate, 
and  weighted  clusters  of  purple  grapes ;  there 
were  flowers  in  profusion  and  clambering 
vines,  sending  up  their  fragrance  like  unseen, 
unheard,  but  sentient  praise;  birds  flying  in 
and  out  amid  the  mass  of  mingled  color  like 
winged  songs;  over  all  the  cloudless  heaven 
of  an  Eastern  sky  pouring  down  its  waves  of 
golden  light.  It  was  aesthetic  in  proportion, 
and  satisfying  to  Cain  as  the  witness  of  his 
toil,  his  handiwork  and  culture. 


180  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

And  yet  this  offering  was  an  audacious 
insult  to  God. 

It  was  audacious  because  of  the  personalitv 
and  nature  of  Cain,  his  relation  to  God,  the 
revealed  truth  of  God,  and  Cain's  persistency 
in  presenting  his  offering  in  face  of  the  truth. 

Cain  was  the  first  born  son  of  Adam,  born 
after  the  fall  and  bearing  the  image  of  his 
fallen  father.  He  was  outside  Eden's  gate. 
He  stood  on  ground  that  God  had  judged  and 
cursed.  He  was  an  exile  from  the  divine 
presence,  under  the  sentence  of  death,  and  at 
a  niuial  and  penal  distance  from  God  which, 
in  himself,  he  had  no  capacity  to  bridge. 

God,  the  Lord,  had  dealt  with  that 
incapacity. 

He  had  declared  to  the  guilty  man  and 
woman  who  stood  before  him  that  he  did  not 
demand  goodness  from  them.  And  this  in 
the  nature  of  the  case.  God  is  something 
more  than  goodness,  he  is  absolute  and  essen- 
tial holiness.  It  is  impossible  for  him  to  lower 
his  standard.  There  is  no  possibility  by  which 
he  could  admit  into  fellowship  and  communion 
with  himself  those  who  stood  upon  a  lower 
plane  of  character  and  quality.  No  man  who 
is  honest  can  afford  to  admit  into  close  in- 
timacy and  continued  friendship  with  himself 
one  who  is  less  honest,  and  concerning  whose 
future  development  suspicions  are  just.  To 
do  so  would  be  to  dethrone  the  man  from  his 
own  professed  plane  of  character.     For  God 


THE   devil's   RiCHtEOUSNESS  181 

to  admit  into  his  intimate  and  rewarded  com- 
panionship a  being  who  was  less  than  holy, 
and  whose  history  must  be  a  continued  demon- 
stration of  his  inability  to  be  holy,  would  be 
for  God  to  cast  himself  down  from  the 
enthronement  of  his  own  holiness  and  destroy 
all  final  integrity  in  the  universe. 

In  default  of  holiness  man  must  die  and  be 
destroyed  from  the  presence  of  God. 

And  again  this  is  in  the  nature  of  the  case. 
No  genius  who  has  a  proper  valuation  of,  and 
respect  for,  his  capacities,  will  permit  any 
production  of  his,  which  does  not  do  him 
justice,  to  remain  longer  than  the  time  it  takes 
to  destroy  it.  Every  moment  that  this  unequal 
work  remains  it  is  a  reproach  and  a  scandal 
to  him.  In  self-defense  he  must,  sooner  or 
later,  blot  it  out.  Fallen  man  was  a  reproach 
and  a  scandal  to  God.  Taking  advantage  of 
the  liberty  and  freedom  God  had  given  him, 
man  had  marred  the  image  and  the  beauty  of 
God  in  him.  As  the  handiwork  of  God  he 
was  a  failure,  a  reproach  and  a  scandal  to 
God.  There  was  nothing  for  God  to  do  but, 
according  to  his  own  eternally  written  law  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest,  destroy  him  from 
his  presence.    Hence  the  sentence  of  death. 

But,  even  if  man  could  survive  the  shock 
of  death,  it  would  still  be  necessary  for  him 
to  rise  up  to  the  level  of  the  divine  character 
and  respond  to  it  with  a  similarity  in  his  own. 
Man  could  not  survive  the  shock  of  death; 


182  THE   SIGNS  OF   THE  TIMES 

for,  "in  that  war  there  is  no  discharge."  Even 
if  he  could  survive  it  there  was  in  him  now 
no  power  to  rise  up  into  the  required  character 
and  holiness. 

Then  it  was,  in  face  of  this  incapacity,  this 
frightful  gulf  of  destruction,  that  God  revealed 
himself  as  the  God  of  all  grace.  He  caused 
an  animal  to  be  slain  as  a  witness  that  before 
man  could  approach  him  he  must  expiate  the 
guilt  and  the  nature  of  sin ;  that  God  must  be 
satisfied  in  his  law,  his  government  and  being, 
in  respect  to  sin,  before  he  could  even  deal 
with  the  fallen  man.  Then  he  took  the  skin 
from  the  slain  victim  and  out  of  it  made  a 
covering  for  the  naked  pair  as  a  testimony  that, 
by  reason  of,  and  in  virtue  of,  this  sacrificial 
death,  he  would  provide  a  character  of  right- 
eousness in  which  they  might  stand  accepted 
and  acceptable  before  him. 

And  all  this  was  simply  a  fore-picture  of 
the  cross  of  Christ.  It  was  a  prophecy  that 
the  death  of  Christ  would  be  an  expiation 
for  sin;  that  it  would  satisfy  the  demand  of 
God's  righteouness  against  the  sinner;  that  by 
virtue  of  that  death,  in  resurrection,  Christ 
would  become  the  righteousness  of  the  sinner 
who  should  come  in  his  name,  claiming  his 
death ;  that  this  death  would  be  accepted  as 
though  the  sinner  himself  had  died  under  ijudg- 
ment,  and  the  value  of  it  placed  to  his  credit, 
imputed  to  him,  charged  to  his  account,  he 
would  be  freed  from  the  guilt  and  the  demerit 


THE   DEVILS   RIGHTEOUSNESS  183 

of  sin  and,  necessarily,  delivered  from  the 
sentence  of  death.  In  resurrection  the  Son  of 
God  would  become,  not  only  the  legal  right- 
eousness of  the  believer,  having  answered  for 
him  in  death,  not  only  his  representative 
righteousness,  acting  as  his  perfect  character 
and  spotless  reputation  in  the  court  of  holi- 
ness, but,  as  the  Second  man,  the  true  Adam, 
the  new  head  of  the  race,  he  would  be 
the  giver  of  a  new  and  spiritual  life,  whos« 
every  fibre  would  be  the  righteousness  of  God ; 
so  that,  in  Christ,  the  believer  would  be  accept- 
ed as  the  very  "righteousness  of  God."  Ap- 
proaching God  on  the  basis  of  the  sacrificial 
death  of  Christ,  the  believer  would  find  in 
Christ  complete  and  legal  acceptance  before 
God,  and  standing  in  the  beauty  of  his  holi- 
ness, would  receive  from  him  that  new  and 
Christ  life  which  would  enable  him  to  walk 
in  righteousness  and  truth  before  God. 

In  simple  terms,  then,  at  Eden's  gate,  God 
taught  the  world  that  the  only  ground  of 
approach  to  him  and  final  identification  with 
his  righteousness  and"  life,  must  be  by,  and 
through,  the  blood  of  sacrifice. 

Cain  knew  this.  He  had  been  taught  the 
Gospel  of  blood  by  his  parents.  And  yet,  in 
spite  of  it  all,  persisted  in  bringing  to  God 
an  unbloody  offering. 

And  this  was  an  insult ! 

In  presenting  such  an  offering  he  ignored 
the   fact  that  there  was   a  moral   and  penal 


184  THE   SIGNS    OF    FHfc.    TIMES 

distance  between  himself  and  God.  He  ignored 
the  fact  that  he  was  an  exile  from  the  pres- 
ence of  God  and  under  the  sentence  of  death. 
He  ignored  God's  demand  for  expiation  by, 
and  through,  the  sacrifice  of  blood.  He  offered 
to  God  the  fruit  of  that  ground  which  God 
had  judged  and  cursed.  He  offered  to  God 
that  which  God  had  distinctly  repudiated.  He 
refused  to  accept  God's  estimate.  He  posi- 
tively denied  God's  Word.  He  set  up  his  own 
word  instead  of  the  Word  of  Jehovah.  He 
exalted  self  instead  of  God. 

And  the  picture  is  plain  enough. 

Cain  is  the  natural  man.  He  is  of  the  flesh 
and  not  of  the  Spirit.  He  is  the  first  born 
and  not  the  second  born.  His  offering  of  the 
ground  is  the  offering  of  the  culture  of  the 
natural  man.  It  is  self-righteousness  offered 
to  God.  It  is  the  declaration  that  there  is  no 
moral  or  penal  distance  between  man  and  God. 
It  is  the  declaration  that  man  is  by  nature  a 
child  of  God.  He  may  be  a  little  off  color, 
due  to  a  thousand  things  over  which  he  has 
not  always  had  control,  but  he  has  all  the 
elements  of  divinity  in'  him,  all  the  roots  of 
character  sufficient,  under  proper  culture,  to 
bloom  out  and  blossom  into  a  life  of  truth  and 
beauty,  honoring  to  God  as  well  as  to  man. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  him  to  look  apart  from 
himself.  He  has  in  himself  all  the  resources 
of  righteousness  required  for  time  and  etern- 
ity.    What  he  needs  is,  to  throw  aside  the 


THE    DEVILS    RIGHTEOUSNESS  185 

superstitious  teachings  of  an  antiquated  time. 
What  he  needs  is,  to  set  aside  the  theology  of 
the  butcher  shop,  recognize  that  the  Father- 
hood of  God  is  the  supreme  thing  to  believe 
in,  that  the  Word  of  God  is  not  confined  to 
the  Bible,  that  Tennyson  and  Browning  are 
apostles  as  much  inspired  as  Paul,  and  that 
the  doctrines  of  Judgment  to  c&me,  hell, 
and  banishment  from  the  presence  of  God,  are 
the  fictions  of  narrow  and  half-educated  reli- 
gionists. He  is  to  repudiate  the  idea  of  sacri- 
fice, sing  to  himself  that  God  is  in  heaven  and 
all  is  well  in  his  world  and,  living  according 
to  the  inward  and  perfect  light,  continue  to 
offer  to  God  the  fruit  of  that  earth,  that 
nature,   which  God  himself  has  made. 

And  this  offering  of  self-righteousness  is 
an  audacious  insult  to  God. 

It  sets  aside  God's  estimate  of  man. 

And  it  is  here  the  issue  between  God  and 
man  is  Ijoined.  The  issue  is  as  to  God's  esti- 
mate of  man  or  man's  estimate  of  himself. 
The  truth  is,  it  is  not  a  question  of  what  you 
think  of  yourself.  It  is  wholly  and  altogether 
a  question  of  what  God  thinks  of  you,  as  the 
natural  man.  You  may  have  a  good  opinion 
of  yourself.  Your  good  opinion  may  be  justi- 
fied by  the  best  standards  of  the  natural 
world.  Your  fellow  men  may  find  in  you 
nothing  to  judge,  and  everything  to  commend. 
You  may  be  the  most  righteous  person  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  and  engaged  every  day  in 


186  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

sustaining  and  proclaiming  that  righteous- 
ness. No  matter !  your  estimate  and  the  esti- 
mate of  your  friends  does  not  count.  It  all 
turns  upon  God's  estimate,  what  God  thinks 
about  you  as  a  natural  man.  And  God  has 
given  that  estimate  in  unmistakable  terms. 
God  has  plainly  said  what  he  thinks  of  the 
natural  man.  He  says  there  are  none  right- 
eous, no  not  one.  He  says  all  the  world 
by  nature  has  been  brought  in  as  guilty 
before  him.  He  says  there  is  no  differ- 
ence. You  may  be  of  blue  blood  or  brown. 
You  may  have  a  fine  ancestry  and  a  clear 
record  in  the  eyes  of  men.  No  matter!  he 
says  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the 
glory  of  God.  He  says  the  natural  mind  is 
enmity  with  God,  not  subject  to  the  law  of 
God,  neither  indeed  can  be.  He  says  by  one 
man  sin  entered  the  world  and  death  by  sin, 
and  so  death  has  passed  upon  all  men.  He 
says  no  man  can  be  justified  by  the  works  of 
the  law.  He  announces  through  the  lips  of  a 
prophet  that  all  our  righteousnesses  are  in  his 
sight  as  filthy,  foul,  putrid,  pestilential  and 
disgusting  rags. 

Whatever  may  be  the  reasoning  of  God 
that  leads  him  to  that  conclusion,  that  is  his 
estimate.  That  his  conclusion  is  just  would 
be  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  seeing  that  the 
God  of  all  the  earth  must  do  right;  but  to 
those  who  follow  from  the  premise  of  the 
unalterable  holiness  of  God,  the  unchangeable 


THE  devil's  righteousness         187 

and  incapable  nature  of  man,  and  the  law  of 
self-defense  in  God's  character  and  righteous- 
ness, which  will  not  permit  the  final  continu- 
ance of  that  which  is  evil  before  him,  and 
will  not  permit  him  to  ignore  or  clear  the 
guilty,  or  allow  even  his  love  to  deceive  him, 
this  estimate  of  man  and  the  correspondingly 
logical  judgment  and  condemnation  of  him, 
must  be  self-evident.  But  whether  it  is  or 
not;  whether  it  commend  itself  to  our  senti- 
ment or  reason,  it  does  not  matter,  it  is  not 
our  estimate  that  goes,  but  the  estimate  of 
God  as  revealed  in  his  Holy  Word.  And 
God's  estimate  is  that  man  is  hopelessly  lost 
in  himself.  In  coming  before  God  then  with 
his  own  character  as  a  certificate  of  entrance 
into  God's  presence,  the  self-righteous  man 
repudiates  and  tramples  under  foot  the  esti- 
mate of  God. 

The  offering  of  self-righteousness  rejects 
the  meaning,  and  refuses  to  believe  in  the 
necessity,  of  the  cross.  It  refuses  to  believe 
that  the  death  of  the  cross  was  the  antitypical 
fulfillment  of  all  the  sacrifices  that  went  be- 
fore ;  that  it  was  the  fulfillment  of  the  burnt 
offering,  the  peace  offering,  the  trespass  offer- 
ing; that  the  death  of  Christ  was  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  sacrifice  offered  on  the  day  of 
atonement  and  that  this  day  in  which  we  live, 
dispensationally,  is  the  Day  of  Atonement,  the 
day  of  reconcilation  to  God,  the  day  in  which 
a  sinner  may  approach,  bringing  the  death  of 


188  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

the  cross  as  his  sin  offering,  his  peace  offer- 
ing, his  trespass  offering  and  his  burnt 
offering.  Self-righteousness  does  not  believe 
the  death  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  a  divine 
expiation  for  human  sin.  It  is  willing  to  ac- 
cept it  as  a  moral  sacrifice  and  martyrdom, 
but  shrinks  back  aghast  at  the  idea  that  God 
was  in  that  hour  dealing  with  his  Son  as  a 
substitute  for  sinful  men,  and  through  his 
death  working  out,  for  all  willing  to  accept 
him  as  such,  a  righteousness  that  should  be 
the  very  righteousness  of  God.  Self-right- 
eousness refuses  categorically  to  believe  in  the 
necessity  of  expiation  on  the  part  of  any 
human  being. 

It  denies  the  tremendous  proposition  that 
the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all 
sin.  It  denies  the  uncompromising  proposi- 
tion that,  "Without  shedding  of  blood  there 
is  no  remission." 

It  denies  the  demonstrated  logic  of  every 
day's  experience  that  a  clean  thing  cannot 
come  out  of  an  unclean.  It  denies  the  state- 
ment of  the  Son  of  God  that  that  which  is 
born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which  is 
born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit.  It  refuses  to 
accept  the  far-reaching  import  of  that  state- 
ment, the  definite,  dynamic  conclusion  that 
flesh  will  always  produce  flesh,  that  never, 
under  any  circumstance,  can  it  produce  any- 
thing but  flesh,  never,  under  any  circumstance, 
can  it  produce  spirit.    It  refuses  to  see  how 


THE  devil's  righteousness         189 

in  this  statement  the  Son  of  God  testifies  that 
between  that  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  and 
that  which  is  boni  of  the  Spirit  there  is  a  great 
gulf  fixed  which  even  God,  speaking  with  all 
reverence,  cannot  bridge,  much  less  any  cul- 
ture by  human  effort. 

Self-righteousness  denies  the  thunderous 
and  climacteric  words  of  the  Son  of  God  in 
which  he  declares  that  unless  a  man  be  born 
again  he  cannot  even  see  the  kingdom  of  God. 

This  self-righteousness,  added  to  all  the 
denial  it  makes  of  the  things  of  God  so  stated, 
has  the  hardihood  to  offer  to  God  that  human 
nature  which  he  has  judged  and  rejected.  It 
sets  aside  God's  own  solemn  Word,  exalts  the 
word  of  man  and,  in  exalting  the  righteous- 
ness of  man,  denies  the  righteousness  of  God. 
In  denying  the  righteousness  of  God,  it  denies 
God  himself. 

And  God  does  not  allow  us  to  wait  long  in 
knowing  his  response.  He  rejects  the  oflfer- 
ing  of  Cain  and  accepts  the  offering  of  Abel. 
Abel  is  the  brother  of  Cain.  He  represents 
the  second  born,  the  second  birth,  the  spiritual 
life  and  apprehension. 

He  brings  before  God  an  offering,  an  offer- 
ing so  terrible,  so  repulsive,  that  we  turn  away 
with  a  shiver.  On  a  low  mound  of  earth  he 
lays  a  spotless,  helpless  lamb,  and  then  with 
a  sudden,  quick  stroke  of  his  sharp,  merciless 
knife,  he  cuts  its  throat  till  the  crimson  stream 
.stains  all  its  beating  sides.     Every  natural 


190  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

sentiment  rises  up  and  repudiates  the  scene. 
Between  the  offering  of  Cain  and  the  offering 
of  Abel  there  is  no  possible  .  comparison. 
Everything  in  the  offering  of  Cain  appeals  to 
the  natural  mind.  It  is  aesthetic,  it  is  beauti- 
ful, it  bears  witness  to  the  toil,  the  strain,  the 
labor  and  the  industry  of  Cain.  The  offering 
of  Abel  has  not  one  thing  in  it  to  recommend 
it  to  the  sense  of  the  beautiful  in  us.  In  con- 
templating it  there  is  only  a  feeling  of  horror 
rising  into  antagonism  and  indignation  against 
Abel  himself.  Our  sympathies  go  out  to  Cain; 
we,  unconsciously,  admire  him  for  what  he 
has  wrought.  We  feel  in  our  inmost  soul  like 
denouncing  Abel,  driving  him  from  our  pres- 
ence as  a  cruel  and  senseless  butcher. 

If,  therefore,  in  the  offering  of  Abel  there 
cannot  be  found  the  most  intellectual  as  well 
as  spiritual  reasons  for  it,  the  record  of  the 
scene  with  all  its  sickening  and  useless  brutal- 
ity is  enough  to  wipe  that  part  of  the  Bible 
from  the  face  of  the  earth  and  throw  grave 
and  just  doubts  upon  the  integrity  of  the  rest. 

But  the  offering  of  Abel  justifies  itself  at 
every  point  of  view.  In  that  hour  Abel  takes 
God's  side  against  himself.  He  owns  God's 
estimate  as  supreme  and  true.  He  says  in 
effect : 

"O  God!  thy  Word  is  true.  I  am  a  sinner 
in  nature  as  well  as  practice.  Thou  knowest 
me  altogether.  Thou  knowest  I  have  no 
power  of  righteousness  in  me  that  can  meet 


THE  devil's  righteousness         191 

thy  demands.  I  have  inherited  the  sentence 
of  death  in  direct  descent  because  of  what  I 
am  as  well  as  what  I  do.  According  to  thy 
judgment,  thou  who  canst  not  He,  I  ought  to 
die.  I  do  not  attempt  to  discuss  with  thee  upon 
the  justice  of  that  sentence.  Thou  sayest  it. 
It  is  thy  Word.  Thy  Word  is  the  end  of  all 
controversy.  I  surrender  and  own  the  judg- 
ment just.  But,  O  God,  if  I  take  thee  at  thy 
Word  concerning  judgment  I  will  also  take 
thee  at  thy  Word  concerning  grace.  At 
Eden's  gates  thou  didst  provide  a  sacrifice  by 
which  my  parents  might  come  unto  thee ;  on 
the  basis  of  that  sacrifice  thou  didst  cover 
their  sin  and  give  them  the  strength  of  a  new 
and  spiritual  life.  And  thou  hast  said,  by  that 
tremendous  act,  that  if  I  bring  an  offering  of 
blood  before  thee  thou  wilt  also  accept  me. 
I  offer  thee  this  spotless  lamb  as  my  substi- 
tute, I  offer  his  death  as  the  expiation  of  my 
guilt  and  nature  in  thy  sight." 

In  a  word,  Abel  looked  through  this  scene 
to  the  far  away  cross  of  Christ,  and  in  the 
slain  lamb  saw  a  picture  of  the  crucified,  and 
looking  there,  by  faith,  offered  to  God  the 
sacrifice  which  God  himself  had  provided. 

In  offering  this  slain  lamb  Abel  took  God 
at  his  Word,  accepted  his  estimate,  owned  his 
righteousness,  and  took  the  place  of  dependent 
faith  on  God. 

The  offering  of  Cain  was  more  beautiful, 
but  it  dishonored  God  in  denying  the  testi- 
mony of  God. 


192  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

Abel's  offering  had  no  beauty  in  it.  It  was 
full  of  judgment,  sin-bearing,  sorrow  and 
death,  but  it  honored  God  in  taking  him  at 
his  Word. 

And  God  met  his  faith. 

Fire  leaped  from  heaven  and  consumed  the 
sacrifice.  Abel  was  accepted  and  Cain 
rejected. 

And  let  It  be  remembered,  the  acceptance 
and  the  rejection  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
two  men  in  themselves.  Abel  was  not  accepted 
because  he  was  intrinsically  a  good  man,  and 
Cain  rejected  because  he  was  intrinsically  a 
bad  man. 

Noi  Abel  was  accepted  because  his  offer- 
ing pleased  the  Lord.  Cain  was  rejected  be- 
cause his  offering  did  not  please  the  Lord. 

And  Cain  had  the  same  opportunity  as  Abel. 
God  asks  him  why  his  countenance  is  fallen. 
He  tells  him  that  the  sin  offering  (not  sin  as 
it  reads  in  the  text)  the  sin  offering,  Heth  at 
the  door.  There  were  other  sheep  or  goats, 
Cain  could  have  taken  a  lamb  or  a  goat  and 
offered  a  bloody  offering  before  the  Lord  and 
he  would  have  been  accepted  even  as  Abel. 
He  did  not.  He  stood  by  his  beautiful  but 
insulting  offering,  and  God  rejected  him.  God 
rejected  Cain's  offering  and  from  henceforth 
that  offering  is  known  as  "The  way  of  Cain." 
It  is  the  way  of  Cain  and  not  God.  It  Is  the 
way  of  the  flesh  and  not  the  Spirit.     It  is  the 


THE   DEVIL*S   RIGHTEOUSNESS  193 

way  of  self-righteousness  and  not  the  right- 
eousness of  God. 

It  is  the  way  of  Cain. 

And  as  the  righteousness  which  is  so  popu- 
lar to-day  is  self-righteousness,  then  this 
righteousness  is  none  other  than  the  way  of 
Cain  come  to  town  again. 

You  may  find  this  way  of  Cain  at  every 
turn.  You  may  see  his  offering  wherever  you 
glance.  You  will  find  it  in  the  latest  maga- 
zine article,  in  the  motif  of  the  latest  story, 
the  drawing  attraction  in  the  theatre,  the 
heaped  up  beauty  in  some  modern  pulpits, 
where  its  flowers  are  transformed  into  the 
rhythm,  the  philosophy,  and  the  bloodless  theol- 
ogy of  modern  poets ;  it  is  the  inspiration  for 
the  curriculae  of  many  colleges  and  gives 
fragrance  to  baccalaureate  sermons  and  com- 
mencement appeals. 

Wherever  you  hear  men  talking  about  the 
universal  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  universal 
brotherhood  of  man,  appealing  to  the  sweet- 
ness and  light  within,  and  openly  and  posi- 
tively denying  the  need  of  the  blood  of  atone- 
ment, and  bringing  Jesus  Christ  down  to  the 
level  of  a  common  and  elder  brother,  you  may 
know  that  it  is  the  way  of  Cain  setting  itself 
up  once  more. 

And  whence  comes  the  sudden  revival  of 
this  offering,  this  startling  and  widespread  ex- 
ploitation of  self  righteousness,  the  righteous- 
iiess  without  blood? 


194  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

The  Apostle  Paul  tells  us.  In  2  Corinth- 
ians, 11:14,  15,  it  is  written,  "Satan  him- 
self is  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light 
.  .  .  .his  ministers.  .  .  as  the  Ministers 
of  Righteousness." 

There  are  would-be  thinkers  who  make  light 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  personality  of  the  Devil. 
They  spell  devil  without  a  d  as  they  spell 
God  with  two  o's.  Good  and  evil  is  their 
scheme. 

And  there  never  was  a  more  unintellectual, 
untenable  proposition  in  the  world  than  that 
evil,  in  itself,  is  impersonal.  Evil  as  an  active 
property,  as  a  force  working  in  the  world, 
does  not  exist  apart  from  personality.  The 
evil  that  is  wrought  in  the  world  is  wrought 
through  personality  and  intellectuality.  The 
combinations  of  evil  as  seen  in  human  life  bear 
witness  at  times  to  a  keenness  of  intellectual- 
ity and  a  strength  of  individuality  and  per- 
sonality that  are  altogether  beyond  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  immediate  agent,  who  seems  like 
unto  one  taken  in  the  snare  of  a  fowler,  and 
hypnotized  by  suggestions  entirely  above  and 
independent  of  his  own. 

I  am  willing  to  believe  that  many  of  those 
who  deny  the  personality  of  the  Devil  in  such 
a  light  and  easy  way  do  not  see  the  full  con- 
clusion to  which  such  a  premise  must  neces- 
sarily lead  them.  They  do  not  see  that  the 
denial  of  the  personality  of  the  devil  is  the 
equivalent   denial   of   the   personality   of   the 


THE  devil's  righteousness        195 

Son  of  God  and,  in  the  end,  the  total  destruc- 
tion of  his  character  as  a  sinless  man. 

And  yet  all  this  is  true;  for  it  is  to  be  re- 
membered that  our  Lord  Jesus  is  inducted 
into  his  work  and  office  on  earth  through  the 
gateway  of  the  Devil's  temptation. 

That  temptation  was  either  subjective  or 
objective. 

If  the  Devil  is  not  a  distinct  personality, 
then  it  was  subjective;  that  is  to  say,  Jesus 
was  tempted  from  within  and  not  from  with- 
out. If  this  be  so,  then  Jesus  had  evil  within 
him.  If  he  had  evil  within  him  he  was  not 
sinless.  If  he  was  not  sinless  within  he  could 
not  be  sinless  in  action.  If  he  was  not  sinless 
in  action  he  was  sinful  in  nature.  If  he  was 
sinful  in  nature  he  was  not  conceived  through 
the  Holy  Ghost.  He  was  not  virgin  born.  He 
is  not  God  the  Son.  He  cannot  be  the  Saviour 
and  Redeemer  of  men. 

If  the  Devil  was  not  personal,  the  character 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  irremediably  gone. 

If  the  Devil  was  not  personal,  then  Jesus 
Christ  was  not  personal.  The  language 
which  sets  forth  the  one  sets  forth  the  other. 

The  force  of  language  in  relation  to  the 
one  must  be  accepted  in  relation  to  the  other. 

If  then  Jesus  Christ  was  personal,  the  Devil 
was  also. 

And  this  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Word  of  God. 

There  are  those  who  accept  the  person- 
ality of  the  Devil,  but  who  limit  his  operations 


196  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

and  agency.  They  look  upon  him  as  the  agent 
alone  of  out-breaking  vice  and  sin.  They 
associate  him  with  all  that  is  repulsive  and 
brutal;  all  that  is  sickening  and  horrible. 

There  never  was  a  greater  mistake. 

The  Apostle  declares  that  in  this  age  Satan 
is  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light.  He 
seeks  to  do  his  most  subtle  work,  not  as  a 
repulsive,  unattractive  devil,  but  as  an  angel 
of  light.  He  seeks  to  win  by  the  aesthetic 
and  the  beautiful. 

His  ministers  are  not  the  coarse  and  sicken- 
ing agents  of  a  rank  and  repulsive  wickedness, 
they  are  ministers  of  righteousness. 

The  ministry  of  Satan  in  this  hour  is  the 
ministry  of  righteousness. 

But  what  kind  of  righteousness? 

Surely  it  cannot  be  the  righteousness  that 
comes  by  way  of  the  blood  of  the  cross. 

The  whole  attitude  of  the  Devil  to  that  cross 
makes  it  impossible. 

Look  at  the  attitude  of  the  Devil  to  the 
cross. 

His  one  continual  effort  was  to  keep  Christ 
from  offering  himself  there  as  the  divinely  ap- 
pointed sacrifice. 

On  the  mount  of  temptation  he  tried  to  lead 
him  to  commit  suicide  by  throwing  himself 
from  the  roof  of  the  temple.  Failing  in  that 
he  incited  the  crowd  at  Nazareth  to  throw  him 
over  the  hillside  and  kill  him ;  nevertheless  he 


THE  devil's  righteousness         197 

escaped  out  of  their  hands.  After  this  he  put  it 
into  the  mind  of  a  lot  of  conspirators  to  induce 
him,  if  possible,  to  claim  the  crown  of  Judea 
and  thus  declare  open  rebellion  against  the 
rule  of  the  Caesar.  He  hoped  that  conflict 
would  arise  and  the  Son  of  God  be  killed  iri 
the  melee.  In  the  garden  of  Gethsemane  he 
sought  to  drive  the  blood  out  of  his  veins; 
he  tried  to  produce  a  hemorrhage  and  thus 
kill  him  before  he  could  reach  the  cross. 
On  the  cross  he  tempted  him  with  the  su- 
preme temptation  of  his  earthly  career.  He 
moved  the  people  to  gather  about  him  and 
taunt  him  with  his  apparent  helplessness ;  say- 
ing unto  him  that  if  he  were  indeed  the  Son 
of  God,  let  him  come  down  from  the  cross 
and  everybody  would  believe  in  him.  Jesus 
knew  that  sixty  thousand  angels  unseen  were 
above  him  ready,  if  he  so  desired,  to  lift  him 
from  the  cross;  this  is  his  own  testimony. 
There  was  nothing  for  Jesus  to  do  but  give 
one  glance  and  they  would  have  so  lifted  him. 
Had  he  done  so  he  could  never  have  been 
the  redeemer  of  men,  and  the  hope  of  re- 
demption would  have  gone  out  in  a  devil's 
laugh.  The  Devil  sought  to  win  here  and 
failed;  for,  shortly  after  that,  the  Son  of 
God  cried,  "It  is  finished,"  and  dismissed  his 
own  spirit. 

This  persistent  attitude  of  the  Devil  bears 
witness,  in  spite  of  the  failure,  that  he  was 
against  the  cross  and  hates  the  blood  of  it. 


198  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

In  the  nature  of  the  case  then,  when  he 
sends  his  ministers  out  to  preach  a  right- 
eousness, it  cannot  be  the  righteousness  that 
comes  by  the  blood  of  the  cross.  It  must  be 
a  righteousness  without  blood.  And  as  the 
righteousness  that  is  now  being  preached 
everywhere  is  a  righteousness  without  blood, 
then  it  is  the  righteousness  which  Satan  is 
sending  his  ministers  forth  to  preach. 

It  is  the  Devil's  righteousness. 

And  in  seeking  to  preach  this  righteousness 
the  Devil  is  keen  and  wise.  If  he  can  suc- 
ceed in  leading  men  to  be  good  and  kind,  and 
pure,  and  righteous,  without  faith  in  a  cruci- 
fied Christ,  he  has  won  a  great  victory. 

Suppose  for  a  moment  the  Devil  should  lead 
this  Twentieth  century  into  a  drunken  orgy  of 
sin  and  shame  and  outbreaking  vice  and  in- 
iquity, what  would  happen? 

There  would  be  a  reaction  to  the  cross  and 
the   blood  of  Christ. 

When,  in  the  French  Revolution,  they 
took  a  bedizzened  prostitute  and  putting 
the  cap  of  licentiousness  in  the  name  of 
liberty  on  her  head  seated  her  on  the 
high  altar  of  Notre  Dame;  when  the  old 
church  under  the  shadow  of  the  Halles  was 
invaded  by  the  unspeakable  men  and  women 
of  that  quarter  and  the  quarters  of  Saint 
Antoine  and  Saint  Denis  and  turned  into  a 
house  of  indescribable  ill  fame,  and  scenes 
took  place  there  that  chroniclers  of  the  hour 


THE  devil's  righteousness         199 

never  dared  to  put  upon  the  printed  page  in 
full;  when  the  filth  and  stench,  and  unmea- 
sured bestiality  of  the  gutters  of  Paris 
swelled  and  overflowed  and  flooded  the  city 
with  their  human  sewage,  their  putridity,  their 
reeking  sensualism,  lust  and  debauchery,  the 
depths  in  this  out-break  of  human  wickedness 
and  devilishness  were  so  appalling,  that 
there  came  a  sudden  halt,  and  a  lightning- 
like reaction  from  democracy  and  republican- 
ism, from  irreligion  and  infidelity,  to  legitimacy 
and  intense  Catholicism. 

Let  the  Devil  lead  the  world  into  an  out- 
break of  unfettered  sin  and  the  law  of  utili- 
tarianism, the  law  of  self-defence,  would,  in  a 
great  degree,  drive  the  world  to  the  foot  of 
the  cross  and  there  cry  for  the  expiation  which 
that  cross  alone  afifords. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  Satan  should  lead  men 
to  repudiate  vice  and  sin  and  live  lives  of  ap- 
parent truth  and  righteousness  apart  from 
the  cross  of  Christ,  he  would  throw  them  back 
in  confidence  on  themselves  and  make  the  re- 
pudiation of  the  cross  of  Christ  universal. 
And  this  is  what  he  is  trying  to  do. 

This  is  why  he  is  preaching  righteousness. 

He  would  like  to  see  this  righteousness 
established  and  practised  everywhere. 

The  Devil  would  be  glad  to  see  prohibition 
successful.  Nothing  would  please  him  more 
than  to  be  able  to  shut  up  every  saloon  and 
every  house  of  shame.    Nothing  would  please 


200  THE  SIGNS  OF    THE  TIMES 

him  better  than  to  see  the  world  going  on  in 
the  walk  of  decency  and  outward  cleanness. 

It  may  be  said  the  world  is  full  of  this  out- 
breaking sin  and  shame,  and  that  it  is  the  Devil 
who  in  the  last  analysis  is  really  the  cause  of 
it.  This  is  true,  and  the  explanation  is  simple 
enough.  God  is  salt.  To  be  without  God  is  to 
be  without  salt.  To  be  without  salt  is  to  be 
essentially  corrupt.  The  Devil  is  without  God. 
There  is  no  God  within  him.  He  is  without 
salt.  He  is  absolute  corruption.  From  that 
day  when  in  the  beginning  he  turned  away 
from  fellowship  with  God  and  became  a  devil 
because  of  this  very  separation  from  God,  he 
has  been  growing  more  and  more  corrupt.  He 
is  like  a  leper.  No  matter  what  a  leper  may 
touch  he  corrupts  it.  His  intention  may  be 
the  best  in  the  world,  whatever  he  touches  he 
corrupts.  Whatever  may  be  the  intention  of 
the  Devil,  no  matter  how  much  he  may  in- 
tend to  keep  a  man  clean,  the  very  moment  he 
touches  him  he  makes  him  more  or  less  cor- 
rupt. Nevertheless,  in  this  age,  he  is  making 
a  supreme  effort  to  minimize  his  power  of  re- 
pulsive corruption  and  achieve  his  own  ends 
in  leading  men  into  a  righteousness  that  does 
not  go  by  way  of  the  cross.  To  that  end  he  is 
behind  all  movements  that  lead  men  away 
from  the  cross.  He  is  willing  that  men  shall 
believe  anything  but  the  efficacy  of  the  blood. 
With  him  it  is  anything  but  the  blood.  He  is 
willing  that  men  shall  believe  in  the  Father- 


THE  devil's  righteousness        201 

hood  of  God.  That  is  a  great  scheme  of  the 
Devil, — to  appeal  to  men  to  consider  the 
fatherlincss  of  God.  He  is  willing  that  men 
shall  glorify  the  earthly  life  of  the  Son  of 
God.  He  is  pleased  when  men  speak  of  his 
goodness  and  righteousness.  It  pleases  him 
whenever  Christ  is  held  up  as  a  good  example 
to  men.  He  is  delighted  whenever  he  can 
hear  a  preacher  exhort  his  hearers  to  follow 
the  example  of  Christ.  He  is  willing  that 
men  shall  grow  pathetic  over  the  sorrow  and 
tragedy  of  the  cross.  He  is  willing  that  men 
shall  see  Jesus  there  as  a  martyr,  as  one  who 
came  too  far  in  advance  of  his  time — but,  as  a 
divine  sacrifice — as  shedding  the  blood  that 
atones  for  sin  and  can  alone  redeem  a  soul 
from  sin  and  the  power  of  death — Never ! 

Anything  but  the  blood. 

But  the  keenest  and  the  most  successful 
line  of  operation  is  to  lead  men  to  preach  a 
righteousness  without  blood  and  to  lead  men 
to  offer  that  righteousness  in  the  belief  that  it 
is  satisfying  to  God. 

This  ministry  of  righteousness  without 
blood  is  a  masterpiece  effort  of  Satanic 
agency.  It  is  worthy  of  him  who  is  called 
"that  old  serpent  which  is  the  devil  and 
Satan." 

Remember  it  therefore  well,  the  righteous- 
ness which  is  now  abroad  in  the  earth  is  the 
righteousness  of  the  Devil, — the  Devil's  right- 
eousness. 


202  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

Whenever,  therefore,  you  hear  men  talking 
about  righteousness,  test  it  and  see  whether  it 
has  the  blood  of  the  cross  in  it.  In  the  cata- 
combs, when  they  wished  to  know  if  the  dead 
body  that  was  brought  there  for  burial  was  the 
body  of  a  true  martyr,  a  faithful  witness  of 
Christ,  they  pulled  aside  the  robe  or  winding 
sheet;  if  they  found  a  small  vial  filled  with 
blood,  they  knew  that  this  had  been  a  true  and 
not  a  false  martyr.  When  you  hear  or  read 
of  righteousness  in  this  day,  pull  aside  the 
fold  of  it  and  see  whether  it  has  the  blood  of 
the  cross  in  it. 

When  you  hear  preachers  testifying  that  all 
men  are  the  sons  of  God  by  nature,  that  the 
fatherhood  of  God  is  the  pre-eminent  thing, 
and  that  each  man  has  in  himself  an  equivalent 
power  with  which  to  meet  the  righteousness 
of  God,  you  may  know,  whether  these  preach- 
ers themselves  know  it  or  not,  and  no  matter 
how  honest  and  true  they  may  be,  that  they 
are  the  ministers  of  Satan,  preaching  a  right- 
eousness without  blood,  a  self-righteousness 
that  denies  the  truth  and  the  warning  of 
God,  and  is  nothing  less  than  the  Devil's  right- 
eousness. 

And  this  ministry  of  bloodless  righteousness 
is  a  sign  of  the  last  times.  It  is  a  sign  of  that 
time  of  which  the  Apostle  Paul  so  clearly 
warns,  in  which  the  church  shall  depart  from 
the  faith,  be  turned  from  the  truth,  and  turned 
to   fables;   when  it  shall  be  spoiled  through 


THE   DEVIL'S  RIGHTEOUSNESS  203 

philosophy  and  vain  deceit  of  men ;  when  it 
will  listen  to  the  imaginations  and  suggestions 
of  the  flesh,  to  the  word  of  man  rather  than 
the  Word  of  God. 

It  is  a  sign  of  that  time  of  which  our  Lord 
foretold,  that  time  when  false  teachers  should 
come  in  his  name  and  preach  a  righteousness 
and  apparent  truth  that  denies  his  name ;  the 
time  when  men  should  talk  in  the  name  of 
Christ  and  lead  men  away  from  the  true 
Christ. 

It  is  a  sign  that  the  Coming  of  the  Lord 
draweth  nigh. 

That  hour  when  he  will  secretly  descend  into 
the  upper  heavens  to  take  those  who  have  been 
ransomed  by  his  blood  and  claimed  it  as  their 
atoning  shelter,  to  himself;  and  then,  later,  be 
revealed  in  unlimited  judgment  upon  a  world 
fooled  by  the  Devil's  righteousness  and  with- 
out the  righteousness  divine. 

It  behooves  every  one  to  know  where  he 
stands. 

If  you  are  building  on  your  own  righteous- 
ness, if  you  are  offering  that  to  God  and  ex- 
pecting to  find  security  in  it,  then  it  is  time 
you  awoke  and  were  undeceived. 

Hear  again  what  God  says :  There  are  none 
righteous.  All  have  sinned  and  come  short  of 
the  glory  of  God.  The  sentence  of  death  has 
passed  upon  all  men.  There  is  no  righteous- 
ness in  which  you  can  stand  before  God 
except  the  righteousness  wrougH  tlr^ough  the 


264  THE  SIGNS  OF   THE  TIMES 

death  and  resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  in  him.  All  your  righteousness, 
the  very  best  though  it  be  in  the  world,  before 
him,  is  no  better  than  filthy  rags. 

It  is  time  you  awoke  to  the  fact  that  the 
great  issue  in  its  last  analysis  is,  the  issue  of 
the  blood. 

That  was  the  issue  between  God  and  Cain. 

That  was  the  difference  in  final  terms  be- 
tween Cain  and  Abel. 

The  difference  between  them  was  blood. 

Abel  was  accepted  because  he  offered  the 
blood  of  sacrifice. 

Cain  was  rejected  because  he  did  not  offer  it. 

That  was  the  difference  on  the  dark  night 
in  Egypt  between  the  Egyptians  and  the  Jews. 

The  death  angel  went  forth  at  midnight. 
Wherever  he  found  the  blood  of  a  sacrificial 
lamb  sprinkled  upon  the  door  of  a  house  he 
passed  over,  recognizing  that  the  blood  was 
the  blood  of  a  substitute,  that  the  lamb  had  died 
in  their  stead.  Wherever  he  found  a  house 
without  blood  upon  it,  no  matter  what  the 
character  of  those  within,  no  matter  how  good 
they  were,  he  entered  and  smote  the  first  born. 

The  difference  between  the  saved  and  the 
lost  in  Egypt  that  night  was  the  blood  of  a 
lamb. 

And  that  is  the  difference  now. 

If  you  are  saved  for  time  and  eternity,  it  is 
because  you  have  by  faith  taken  shelter  under 
the  blood   of  the   Lamb  of   God;   you  have 


THE  DEVIL'S  RIGHTEOUSNESS          205 

claimed  Christ  as  your  sacrifice  and  personal 
substitute. 

If  you  have  not  taken  shelter  under  that 
blood,  if  you  have  not  claimed  Christ  by  faith 
as  your  sacrifice  and  personal  substitute,  no 
matter  how  good  and  honest  you  are,  you  are 
not  saved,  you  are  under  the  judgment  and 
condemnation  of  a  holy  God  who  can  by  no 
means  ckar  those  whom  he  considers  guilty. 

It  is  the  blood  of  Christ  which  alone  gives 
title  to  heaven  and  the  throne  of  God. 

Look  at  that  scene  in  the  seventh  chapter 
of  the  Revelation. 

A  great  crowd  of  people  are  standing  before 
the  throne  of  God,  and  accepted  of  him. 

How  did  they  get  there? 

The  Apostle  John  asks  one  of  the  elders 
who  they  are.  He  tells  him  certain  things 
concerning  them  and  then  says  that  they  "have 
washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in 
the  blood  of  the  lamb." 

And  then  he  adds  the  tremendous  con- 
clusion : 

"Therefore  are  they  before  the  throne  of 
God." 

"Therefore!"  what  an  expletive  that  is. 

"They  have  washed  their  robes  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  lamb,  therefore 
are  they  before  the  throne  of  God." 

It  is  the  blood  of  the  lamb,  the  blood  of 
Christ,  that  gives  them  title  to  the  throne  and 
presence  of  God. 


206  THE  SIGNS  OF   THE  TIMES 

"The  blood  of  the  lamb." 

Never  forget  it!  Not  the  flowers  and  the 
fruit  of  Cain's  offering.  Not  the  best  culture 
of  your  human  nature.  Not  the  best  in  you. 
Not  your  goodness,  sweetness  and  Hght.  Not 
the  righteousness  without  blood.  Nay!  and 
never ! 

The  one  and  only  thing  that  can  give  you 
title  to  the  throne  and  presence  of  God  is  the 
blood  of  that  lamb  who  was  slain  on  the  cross 
at  Calvary,  God's  Christ,  the  seeking  Saviour 
of  men. 

May  God  lead  you,  if  you  have  not  already 
done  so,  to  offer  to  God  by  faith  the  sacrifice 
which  he  at  infinite  cost  has  provided  for  you, 
and  receive  from  him  that  new  and  spiritual 
life  which  will  enable  you  to  walk  in  the  ways 
of  righteousness  and  truth,  be  master  over  sin 
and  self,  and  a  living  reincarnation  of  the  Son 
of  God  on  earth.  Let  me  appeal  to  you  to  tear 
aside  your  own  self-righteousness  which  is  but 
a  foul  and  loathsome  thing  in  the  sight  of  God, 
the  concrete  of  self-boasting  and  actual  denial 
of  the  true  God,  fling  yourself  at  the  foot  of 
the  cross,  own  the  all-sufficient  sacrifice,  re- 
ceive the  benediction  of  his  grace  and  life,  and 
know  that  you  are  in  Christ,  and  in  him  the 
very  "righteousness  of  God  in  him." 

Do  this  before  it  is  too  late ;  before  the  swift 
descending  Christ  reveals  your  sad  deception 
and  summons  you  to  a  judgment  in  which 
your  poor  self-righteousness  shall  shrivel  as  a 
withered  leaf  before  an  all-devouring  flame. 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION 


OR 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 


A  Physical,  Intellectual,  Moral  and 
Spiritual  Peril 

Recently,  the  words  "Mental  Assassination" 
have  been  reported  in  the  daily  journals  and 
repeated  in  conversation  from  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other. 

Assassination ! 

That  is  an  ugly  word.  It  brings  a  thrill, 
a  shiver.  It  has  in  itself  the  power  to  depict 
a  scene. 

It  is  night.  A  figure  comes  gliding  down 
through  the  shadows  of  the  street.  It  stops 
and  contemplates  a  certain  house.  Then  it 
moves  with  stealthy  step  to  the  rear  of  the 
building.  A  window  is  softly  opened.  Now 
the  figure  is  standing  inside  the  dining  room. 
The  dark  lantern  is  lit.  A  subdued  ray  shows 
the  gleam  of  something  stcel-likc  in  the  man's 
hand.  His  feet  are  shod  with  slippers.  He 
finds  the  stairs.  He  goes  up  the  steps  with  a 
tread  as  light  and  noiseless  as  a  thirsty  tiger 


208  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

seeking  its  prey.  He  enters  the  sleeping  room. 
The  long,  regular  breathing  tells  that  the 
owner  of  the  house  is  deep  in  sleep.  The 
light  from  the  lantern  is  turned  on  enough  to 
show  the  location  of  the  sleeper's  heart. 
There  is  a  quick  down-stroke,  a  strange  thud, 
as  when  a  knife  strikes  human  flesh — a  moan 
— and  the  hideous  thing  vanishes  from  the 
room — gathers  its  booty  and  disappears  as  it 
came.  The  next  morning  the  streets  are  ring- 
ing with  the  newsboy's  cry,  "Alan  murdered. 
Man  assassinated." 

But  this  word  "assassination"  is  now  quali- 
fied. It  is  not  assassination  alone,  but  "Mental" 
assassination.  The  qualificative  does  not  mod- 
ify the  force  of  the  word,  it  intensifies  it.  It 
does  not  take  away  the  fact  of  death,  it  makes 
it  all  the  more  terrible.  It  announces  a  new 
instrumentality,  it  reveals  a  sure  and  subtle 
skill.  The  new  instrumentality  is  mind.  It  is 
assassination  produced  by  the  operation  of 
mind  upon  mind.  Mental  power  is  brought  to 
bear  upon  another  till  the  personality  of  that 
other  is  affected,  the  will  power  and  the  de- 
cision paralyzed.  The  person  so  affected  can- 
not walk  down  stairs  without  risk  of  falling  or 
stumbling,  without  danger  to  life  or  limb,  can- 
not cross  a  street  or  get  on  a  car  without  im- 
minent peril.  The  nervous  system  yields  to 
the  strain.  It  grows  weak,  fear  becomes  a 
torment,  the  mental  pressure  is  terrific,  there 
is  a  collapse,  and  the  victim  dies — has  been 
assassinated,  killed,  murdered,  just  as  much 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION  209 

as  though  stabbed  to  death  by  a  knife  in  the 
murderer's  hand. 

This  is  mental  assassination! 

Is  such  a  thing  possible? 

It  is  said  to  be  possible.  It  is  said  to  X)v 
actually  true. 

A  particular  person,  a  young  married 
woman,  at  her  home  one  night,  felt  a  strange, 
cold,  icy  blast  blowing  upon  her,  chilling  her 
to  the  very  heart.  She  plunged  into  hot  baths, 
but  could  not  arrest  the  icy  chill.  She  under- 
stood what  it  was.  A  person  she  knew  well, 
at  that  time  distant  many  miles  from  her,  one 
who  had  been  her  teacher  in  mental  culture, 
in  spite  of  the  great  distance  that  separated 
them,  was  now  exercising  malicious  animal 
magnetism,  was  sending  mental  death  waves 
upon  her.  She  felt  herself  being  paralyzed, 
upon  the  very  threshold  of  death.  She  took 
up  her  New  Testament  and  tried  to  read  it 
as  an  antidote  to  this  mental  assault.  At  that 
moment  her  husband  came  in.  He  was  the 
picture  of  terror,  every  nerve  was  unstrung. 
In  getting  off  the  train  he  barely  escaped  '• 
fatal  accident.  He  felt  he  was  being  pursued, 
hounded,  by  some  strange,  unseen  force,  to  his 
own  destruction. 

All  this  is  related  with  evident  sincentj% 
with  an  intensity  of  dramatic  fervor,  with 
minuteness  of  detail  and  a  sense  of  horrorism 
which  surpasses  even  the  language  and  the 
method  of  a  Poe. 


210  THE   SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES 

Is  it  true? 

No  matter  whether  it  be  true  or  not,  such  a 
concept  is  a  disaster  to  any  community.  For 
any  considerable  body  of  men  and  women  to 
believe  in  such  a  thing  and  be  affected  by  it, 
living  in  constant  dread  as  though  the  assassin 
were  upon  their  tracks,  looking  with  suspicion 
upon  every  face,  and  shivering  in  anticipation 
of  the  fatal  but  unseen  blow,  such  a  concept 
is  a  moral  as  well  as  intellectual  disaster  to 
any  community. 

But  if  such  a  concept  should  arise  from  the 
midst  of  a  system  of  religion,  it  would  be 
enough  to  damn  that  religion,  no  matter  though 
it  came  in  the  name  of  God  and  his  Christ,  and 
were  borne  to  the  door  of  every  house  on 
arch-angelic  wings  and  amid  the  burst  of 
high  hosannas  from  angelic  choirs. 

And  this  concept  does  arise  from  the  midst 
of  a  professedly  religious  system.  It  arises 
from  the  midst  of  that  system  known  as 
Christian  Science.  Christian  Science  gives 
occasion  to  this  concept  because  it  belongs  to 
the  category  of  mental  operation.  It  gives 
rise  to  it  because  in  its  final  analysis  Christian 
Science  is  a  lav  less  and  exaggerated  hypno- 
tism. Hypnotism  is  the  operation  of  mind 
upon  mind  through  the  law  of  suggestion.  A 
certain  individual  has  a  fancy  that  he  cannot 
go  down  the  street  beyond  a  fixed  point.  At 
this  point  he  balks  and  will  go  no  farther.  He 
has  all  sorts  of  reasons  about  it  and  cannot  be 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION  21 1 

persuaded  to  change  his  resolution.  A  friend 
who  has  an  exceptionally  strong  will  and  a 
compelling  power  of  mind  suggests  to  him 
that  he  is  guilty  of  a  great  absurdity,  that 
there  is  every  reason  for  him  to  repudiate  his 
fancy  and  go  beyond  the  hindering  spot  and, 
finally,  prevails  upon  him  to  go.  Another 
has  a  splitting  headache  or  some  nervous  dis- 
order that  incapacitates  him  for  work.  He  is 
continually  talking  about  his  ailments  to 
others.  He  makes  a  cult  of  them.  He  is 
wholly  taken  up  with  them.  His  friends  fall 
into  the  habit  of  inquiring  about  them,  dis- 
cussing them.  His  ills  in  reality  become  his 
occupation  till  he  is  nothing  bettered  but  al- 
ways worse.  A  strong  minded  and  strong 
willed  friend  determines  to  cure  him.  He  be- 
gins by  telling  him  how  well  he  looks.  He 
persists  in  telling  him  that.  He  suggests  that 
he  shows  evidence  of  increased  strength  and 
vigor.  He  laughs  at  the  idea  of  any  real  dis- 
ease, declares  he  needs  more  exercise,  points 
out  the  very  exercise  he  ought  to  take.  So 
constant  is  he  in  the  suggestion  of  health  and 
strength  that  the  sick  man  yields.  He  begins 
to  think  himself  that  he  is  well,  f^'-nally,  he 
says  he  is  well.  Soon  he  is  so  taktu  up  with 
his  "wellness"  that  he  forgets  his  illness.  He 
is  actually  well.  He  finds  his  normal  condi- 
tion. It  is  the  case  of  the  substitution  of  one 
will  power  for  another,  the  weaker  is  rein- 
forced by  the  stronger.     Having  no  definite 


212  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

will  of  his  own,  he  has  been  in  the  flotsam  and 
the  jetsam  of  his  own  weakness  and  the  mis- 
directed wills  of  others.  Having  at  last  yielded 
to  the  strong  will  which  suggests  the  positive 
health  attitude,  he  is  dominated  and  governed 
by  it. 

It  is  an  issue  of  wills. 

Christian  Science  takes  up  this  issue.  It 
divides  humanity  into  two  classes  of  wills,  the 
dominant  and  the  submissive  wills.  The  dom- 
inant wills  are  the  possible  healers,  the  sub- 
missive wills  are  the  patients.  The  aim  of 
Christian  Science  is  to  cultivate  each  of  these 
wills.  It  would  increase  the  power  of  domi- 
nance in  the  one  and  the  state  of  submissive- 
ness  in  the  other.  It  is  on  this  principle  of 
the  stronger  and  the  weaker  will  that  it  seeks 
to  produce  its  cures  and  extend  its  influence. 
And  it  has  a  basis  on  which  to  proceed.  There 
is  in  each  human  being  a  greater  or  less  de- 
posit by  nature  of  curative  forces.  Every  phy- 
sician knows  that  it  is  not  his  drug,  his 
remedy,  which  finally  accomplishes  the  cure, 
it  is  nature  herself.  The  best  any  physician 
can  do  is  to  appeal  to  these  forces,  free  them 
from  their  cloggings  or  hindrances  and  get 
them  to  work.  On  this  foundation  of  the  cura 
naturae  Christian  Science  operates.  Through 
the  law  of  suggestion  it  leads  the  patient  to 
appeal  to  the  curative  forces  within  him  and 
permit  them  to  act  unhinderedly.  It  does  not 
tell  the  patient  that  this  is  the  process.     It 


MfeNtAL  ASSASSlNAtlON  2lS 

seeks  to  lead  him  to  deny  the  existence  of  his 
sickness.  It  seeks  by  establishing  the  idea  of 
negation,  to  allow  the  positivism  of  nature  to 
assert  itself;  taking  the  hindering,  objecting 
will  of  the  sick  man  out  of  the  way,  the  will 
that  clogs  and  bars  the  true  activities  of  the 
body,  it  points  to  the  results  of  nature's  loyal 
response  to  the  yielded  will  and  claims  its 
proposition  of  no  sickness  proved. 

All  this  of  course  is  mainly  true  and  in  lim- 
ited degree  in  the  region  of  nervous  disorders. 
So  far,  Christian  Science  has  not  restored  a 
lost  eye  or  a  lost  limb.  Nevertheless,  it  must 
be  noted  that  Mrs.  Eddy  claims  these  things 
can  be  done.  She  tells  us  in  her  monumental 
text  book,  "Christian  Science  and  Health," 
that  the  lobster  has  no  mind,  and,  just  because 
it  has  no  mind,  when  it  loses  a  claw  it  imme- 
diately replaces  it  by  another.  Mrs.  Eddy 
asserts  that  the  moment  we  can  minimize  the 
capacity  of  our  mind,  the  moment  we  can 
reach  the  mental  state  of  the  lobster,  wc  shall 
be  able  at  will  to  replace  any  member  of  our 
body  lost  by  accident  or  the  surgeon's  knife. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  evident  that  the  opera- 
tion of  a  strong  will  upon  a  weaker  may  lead 
it  through  the  law  of  suggestion  to  bring 
about  deliverance  from  many  nervous  troubles. 

But  it  ought  to  be  equally  evident  that  if 
this  mental  operation  can  produce  a  certain 
degree  of  good,  it  can  also  produce  an  enor- 
mous amount  of  evil.     It  ought  to  be  clear 


214  THE   SIGNS  OF   THE  TlMES 

that  if  any  combination  of  strong  minds  and 
wills  should  'be  concentrated  upon  another 
mind  and  will ;  if  the  individual  upon  whom 
this  influence  was  discharged  had  faith  in  the 
power  of  these  minds  and,  at  the  same  time, 
was  pervaded  by  an  intense  and  constant  fear 
— it  ought  to  be  plain  enough  that  the  indi- 
vidual under  such  assault  would  yield,  might 
fall  into  a  state  of  will  paralysis,  break  down, 
become  a  mental  wreck  and  die.  Thus  the  en- 
trance of  one  will  into  and  pervading  the  mind 
and  will  of  another,  is  precisely  like  the  robber 
or  the  assassin  who  stealthily  enters  the  home 
of  another.  The  very  idea  that  one  personality 
can  be  invaded,  possessed,  obsessed  by  the 
personality  of  another,  is  disintegrating,  de- 
moralizing and,  in  proportion  as  it  is  ex- 
panded and  made  a  fact  of  experience,  be- 
comes an  unspeakable  menace,  an  indescriba- 
ble physical  danger  to  the  community. 

Thus  Christian  Science  is  a  Physical  Peril. 

Christian  Science  is  not  only  a  physical 
peril,  it  is  intellectual  bankruptcy. 

If  to-day  the  teachers  in  our  public  schools 
were  teaching  that  there  is  no  chemistry,  no 
mathematics,  no  applied  science,  the  result  to 
the  scholars  would  be  intellectual  disintegra- 
tion and  disaster.  It  would  mean  mental  and 
intellectual  bankruptcy. 

Christian  Science  is  doing  that  very  thing! 

It  teaches  that  there  is  no  chemistry,  no 
mathematics,  no  applied  science.     It  teaches 


MENTAL     ASSASSINATION  2  1  5 

all  this  by  and  through  its  fundamental  propo- 
sition that  there  is  no  matter,  that  matter  does 
not  exist.  If  there  is  no  matter  there  surely 
can  be  no  chemistry.  There  are  no  original 
and  radical  elements,  no  qualities  or  distinct 
properties.  There  are  no  affinities,  no  repul- 
sions, no  possible  combinations,  mixtures  or 
products.  To  say  that  one  thing  is  a  gas,  an 
other  a  salt ;  that  one  thing  is  fluid  and  anothei 
solid;  that  there  are  deposits  and  precipitates, 
is  absurd ;  for,  as  there  is  no  matter,  there  can 
be  neither  chemical  properties  nor  substance. 
None  of  these  things  exist.  Chemistry  as  a 
science,  as  a  fact,  is  no  better  than  the  baseless 
fabric  of  a  dream. 

If  there  is  no  matter  there  can  be  no  mathe- 
matics, no  addition,  no  minus  and  plus,  no 
multiplication  or  division,  no  weight,  density, 
form,  measure,  ratio  or  proportion.  There 
can  be  no  construction,  no  relation  of  part  to 
part,  no  distance,  no  transit  over  that  distance, 
no  constructed  means  of  locomotion.  There 
can  be  no  possible  calculation.  Astronomers 
tell  us  that  the  second  on  an  astronomical 
meridian  is  equal  to  the  twentieth  part  of  the 
thickness  of  a  hair,  and  that  by  means  of  this 
second,  when  used  as  the  parallax  of  a  star, 
its  distance  of  over  four  billions  of  miles  from 
our  world  may  be  accurately  determined. 
Great  mathematicians  tell  us  that  the  undula- 
tion of  the  yellow  ray  of  sodium  is  equal  to 
the  590  millionth  of  a  millimeter  and  should 


216  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES 

be  used  as  the  invariable  standard  of  measure 
with  which  to  compute  the  infinite  distances 
of  the  heavenly  bodies.  But  if  there  is  no 
matter,  then  there  is  no  sodium.  If  there  is 
no  sodium  certainly  there  is  no  yellow  ray. 
Where  there  is  no  yellow  ray  there  can  be  no 
undulaUon  thereof.  Where  there  is  no  undu- 
lation there  is  no  measure  and  the  suggested 
standard,  the  590  millionth  of  a  millimeter,  is 
a  fanciful  fiction.  No  such  computation  or 
calculation  is  possible.  Calculation  itself  is 
impossible.  Without  calculation  there  is  an 
end  of  mathematics.  There  is,  therefore,  no 
such  thing  as  mathematics.  Mathematics  do 
not  exist. 

Christian  Science  teaches  all  that  in  deny- 
ing matter.  Such  teaching  is  intellectual 
bankruptcy. 

It  is  more  than  that,  it  is  moral  bankruptcy. 

The  logic  of  no  matter  means  that  the  uni- 
verse is  a  deception.  All  creation  is  a  lie. 
Nothing  we  see,  or  hear,  or  touch,  or  feel  is 
true.    Our  whole  environment  is  a  falsehood. 

That  sunrise  is  a  falsehood,  a  rank  deception. 

Turn  your  gaze  to  the  eastern  sky.  It  is 
domed  with  darkness.  Suddenly,  the  dark- 
ness is  shot  through  and  through  to  the  zenith 
with  arrows  of  light,  each  arrow  tipped  with 
gold  and  turning  to  streams  of  crimson  fire. 
The  blackness  breaks  into  masses  of  grey 
clouds,  and  these  flee  away  like  scattered 
squadrons  of  a  frightened  foe  before  the  on- 


MENTAL   ASSASSINATION  2  1  7 

coming  of  the  king.  The  great  dome  is 
changed  to  a  canopy  of  infinite  blue.  Other 
clouds  rise  and  sweep  forward  like  the  king's 
retainers,  clothed  with  fleece  such  as  kings 
wear,  fringed  with  purple  and  amethyst  and 
heavy  with  gold.  The  sun  rises,  at  first  a 
thin  rim  of  quivering  glory  on  the  low  hori- 
zon, afterwards  a  blazing  circumference,  fill- 
ing all  the  world  of  earth  and  sky  with  out- 
spreading splendor;  and  then,  at  last,  with  the 
assured  power  of  measureless  strength,  as- 
cending regally  to  that  upper  throne  where 
for  the  day  he  reigns  supreme. 

And  all  this  is  a  lie,  a  deception,  an  error 
of  mortal  mind.  Every  ray  of  silver  flashing, 
every  gleam  of  golden  glory,  is  proclaiming 
to  our  attentive  souls  that  we  have  been 
fooled,  deceived  and  trifled  with — there  is  no 
sunrise  and  no  wealth  of  changing  color. 

Look  at  the  sunset. 

View  it  from  the  deck  of  ship  in  mid-ocean. 
The  great  ball  of  fire  swings  slowly  down  to 
touch  the  wave,  and  then,  turning  to  a  wheel 
of  fire,  burns  its  deep  rut  of  flame  into  the 
breaking  wave,  the  waters  rising  up  to  swal- 
low its  palpitating  circumference,  and  the 
night  dropping  down  from  above  to  draw  over 
it  the  deep  darkness,  as  when  a  hood  is  drawn 
over  the  face  of  one  condemned;  there  is  a 
quiver  of  light  like  a  great  voiceless  protest — 
then  it  is  gone  as  a  lamp  blown  out  in  a  sudden 
wind,  and  far  upward  in  the  night  sky  the 


218  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

calm  stars  serenely  watch  where  a  blazing 
world  has  been. 

But  every  ray  of  splendor  from  that  sinking 
sun,  every  flame  of  color  from  that  slow 
descending  world,  is  a  falsehood.  There  is 
no  sunset,  there  is  no  color,  there  is  no  sun. 

Mark  that  storm  at  sea. 

Note  how  the  heavens  bend  down.  A  dark 
cloud  like  a  giant  hand  reaches  to  the  very 
depths  and  entrails  of  the  sea,  gathers  the 
waves  in  its  fist,  lifts  them  and  flings  them  till 
they  fall  and  rise  again,  bellowing  as  wild 
beasts  bellow.  The  winds  let  loose  among 
them  like  unseen  tormentors  with  roaring 
voices  and  smiting  whip-lashes,  drive  them  ua 
a  tumult  against  each  other,  filling  them  with 
foam  and  fury,  and  sending  them  to  dash 
themselves  with  crash  and  thunder  and  hoarse 
cryings  on  the  sounding  shore,  dragging  with 
them  masts  and  spars  of  sinking  ships  and 
bodies  of  drowning  men  and  women. 

And  all  this  scene  is  a  lie — an  unreal  thing. 
No  waves  ever  break,  no  winds  ever  wail,  or 
cry,  or  sweep,  no  storm  ever  thunders  above 
land  or  sea.  There  is  neither  land  nor  sea; 
for,  there  is  no  matter. 

That  glorious  landscape ! 

It  is  four  o'clock  of  a  summer's  afternoon. 
The  hills  are  all  a-swoon  in  the  soft  encircling 
haze.  The  tree  tops  are  turned  to  velvet 
browns  and  dusky  greens.  The  brook  babbles 
lazilv    on     its    shining,     rippling    way,     each 


MENTAL   ASSASSINATION  219 

whitened  pebble  glear.iing  up  through  the 
parted  silver  of  its  flow.  You  lie  stretched  at 
ease  in  the  shadows  amid  the  sedgy  grass  and 
hear  the  hum  of  insect  life,  and  dream  your- 
self in  a  world  where  foreheads  have  no 
wrinkles  and  hearts  no  r^re,  Well-a-day!  it 
is  all  a  dream.  From  first  to  last  it  is  all  a 
dream.  There  is  no  noisy  brook,  no  hills  that 
lie  in  misty  depths,  no  over-arching  sky  of 
kindly  blue.  It  is  all  a  falsehood  of  those  ly- 
ing things  we  call  the  senses. 

Yes,  all  is  deception  and  arrant  falsehood, 
a  mean,  deceiving  hypocrisy — the  clasp  of 
hands,  the  touch  of  lips,  the  voice  of  promise, 
the  covenant  oath,  the  men  and  women  and 
laughing  children  whom  you  meet.  That 
woman  with  the  rounded  form,  the  classic  con- 
tour, the  shape  divine,  eyes  whose  depths 
draw  down  your  soul,  and  whose  hands  reach 
out.  to  claim  you  as  her  own  and  make  quick 
profit  of  your  soft  surrendered  will;  that  man 
with  the  torso  of  an  Apollo,  the  brow  of  an 
Olympian  god,  the  gesture  of  imperial  power ; 
that  child  with  the  sun-kissed  ringlets  and 
mouth  of  rosebud  and  smiles  of  innocence ; 
these,  with  song  of  birds  and  fragrance  of 
flowers ;  these  things  of  earth,  and  all  the  shin- 
ing things  of  night  which  in  that  upper  heaven 
we  call  the  starry  worlds — these  are  rank  de- 
ceptions, creations  of  mortal  error,  founda- 
tionless  in  fact,  figments  of  fancy,  the  fading 
spectres,  the  unreal  ghosts  of  unreal  and  empty 
things. 


220  THr:  signs  of  the  times 

And  what  does  this  environment  of  illusion, 
of  delusion,  deception  and  falsehood  mean? 
It  means  the  universe  in  which  we  supposedly 
live  is  making,  not  for  righteousness,  but  for 
unrighteousness.  This  seeming  creation  by 
which  we  are  surrounded  being  a  falsehood  in- 
spires to  falsehood  concerning  ourselves.  It 
is  impossible  to  live  in  a  world  where  all  we 
see,  hear,  feel  and  touch,  is  untrue,  without 
being  inspired  to  untruth  ourselves.  Being  un- 
der obligation  to  deny  as  real  every  out- 
ward and  visible  fact,  our  relation  to  ourselves 
and  to  each  other  can  be  only  one  continued 
falsehood,  one  maze,  one  round  of  deception, 
hypocrisy  and  false  pretence. 

This  is  the  logic  of  that  fundamental  propo- 
sition of  Christian  Science — no  matter. 

Such  a  system  with  such  a  proposition 
means  intellectual  bankruptcy  and  moral  deg- 
radation. 

Christian  Science  is  a  paralysis. 

It  is  a  paralysis  of  all  the  sweet  humanities, 
of  all  the  helpful  amenities  of  mortal  life. 

It  enables  a  mother  to  look  with  cold  in- 
difference on  the  crushed,  bleeding  form  of 
her  child,  crushed  and  bleeding  from  a  fright- 
ful accident  and  say,  "There  is  no  accident. 
There  is  no  matter.  There  is  no  pain.  My 
child  does  not  suffer." 

It  enables  the  wife  to  look  with  unmoved 
calmness  while  her  husband  tosses  in  the 
throes  of  fever  anr^  say,  with  even  speech,  "He 


MENTAL   ASSASSINATION  221 

does  not  suffer.  There  is  no  fever;  for  there 
is  no  matter  in  which  fever  can  burn.  Nay! 
the  truth  is — actually — he  does  not  have  a 
body  at  all." 

It  enables  men  and  women  to  walk  amid  the 
sorrowing  and  the  troubled  and  shed  no  tears, 
because  they  deny  the  existence  of  sorrow,  or 
want,  or  woe.  It  is  true,  that  the  clasp  of  a 
hand  has  helped  many  a  weak  soul  to  fight 
another  battle.  It  is  true,  that  in  this  busy 
life,  a  kind  and  sympathetic  word  spoken  at 
the  right  moment  has  helped  men  and  women 
to  stand  true  and  steadfast  in  the  hour  of 
trial.  It  is  true,  that  a  tear  of  fellowship  with 
another's  sorrow  has  sweetened  the  bitterness 
of  that  soul  and  enabled  him  to  sing  his  song 
of  hope  in  the  night  of  despair  and  go  for- 
ward to  a  better  day;  but  this  system,  this 
professed  religion,  this  Christian  Science,  par- 
alyzes all  that. 

It  denies  the  right  of  any  human  heart  to 
have  sympathy,  or  consideration  for  another's 
pain  or  woe.  It  teaches  that  to  speak  a  word 
of  sympathy,  to  let  fall  a  tear,  to  weep  with 
thos«  who  weep,  to  own  and  try  to  bear  the 
burden  under  which  another  falls,  is  to  sus- 
tain the  false  idea  that  men  and  women  do 
have  cares  or  sorrows  or  such  things  as  heart 
ache  and  pain.  Christian  Science  repudiates 
all  this  humanness  and  turns  men  and  women 
into  cold-blooded,  self-centered,  pulseless  ego- 
tists; and  if  it  could  influence  all  the  human 


222  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

race  to  its  inhuman  conclusions,  it  would  cre- 
ate a  world  from  which  the  angels  of  mercy 
and  love  would  flee  in  horror  as  from  the 
midst  of  a  race  of  frozen  monsters. 

Yes,  Christian  Science  paralyzes  all  that 
makes  humanity  helpful  and  attractive :  all 
that  saves  the  race  from  becoming  a  mob  of 
incarnate  devils. 

Christian  Science  is  a  system  of  absolute 
immorality. 

What  would  you  say  if  every  minister  in 
the  land  were  teaching  that  lying,  cheating, 
swearing,  drunkenness,  robbery  and  murder 
were  not  crimes ;  that  there  was  no  sin  in  any 
of  these  things? 

And  yet  that  is  just  what  Christian  Science 
is  teaching. 

Christian  Science  teaches  that  lying,  cheat- 
ing, swearing,  drunkenness,  robbery  and  mur- 
der are  not  crimes ;  that  there  is  no  sin  in 
them. 

You  hold  up  your  hands  in  horror  and  say, 
"Nay !  it  cannot  be.  No  such  system  would 
dare  to  come  before  an  enlightened  com- 
munity and  teach  that." 

But  Christian  Science  does  do  that. 

Christian  Science  teaches  that,  because 
Christian  Science  says  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  sin.  Just  as  much  as  the  proposition  that 
matter  does  not  exist  is  fundamental  to  Chris- 
tian Science,  so  is  the  proposition  that  there 
is  no  sin.    Again  and  again  Christian  Science 


MENTAL   ASSASSINATION  223 

repeats  that  postulate.  Over  and  over  again 
in  every  imaginable  form  of  statement  it  pro- 
claims that  sin  is  not  a  fact,  that  there  is  no 
fact,  no  actuality  in  sin.  Sin  is  a  false  con- 
cept, it  does  not  exist  at  all. 

Now,  if  there  is  no  such  thing  as  sin,  if  sin 
does  not  exist,  then  no  act  of  any  kind  can  be 
sin. 

The  man  who  fails  to  meet  the  standards  of 
righteousness  and  truth,  the  woman  who  al- 
lows the  ermine  of  her  chastity  to  be  soiled, 
have  committed  no  sin.  No  matter  what  the 
world's  standards  may  be ;  no  matter  what  the 
judgments  of  courts  may  pronounce;  no 
matter  what  the  legal,  physical,  moral,  or 
penal  consequences  of  any  act  may  be,  there  is 
no  sin.  It  will  not  do  to  say  that  the  false 
idea  that  sin  exists  produces  evil  results.  It 
is  impossible!  As  there  is  no  sin,  no  actual 
evil  of  any  sort,  no  matter  what  the  concept, 
the  consequences  cannot  be  evil  or  sinful ;  for, 
here  is  a  proposition  that  is  utterly  inviolable, 
it  is  this:  where  there  is  no  fact  of  sin  there 
can  be  no  act  of  sin. 

What  then  must  be  the  actual  moral  con- 
dition of  an  inner  expert  circle  of  Christian 
Science  where  men  and  women  do  not  be- 
lieve there  is  any  such  fact  as  sin;  and  that 
no  matter  what  the  concept,  or  the  yielding  to 
the  concept  may  be,  there  never  can  be  an  act 
that  is  really  sin?  What  an  amazing  system 
by  which  the  dishonored  man  ind  the  fallen 


224  TH£  StGNS  or  THE  TIMES 

woman  may  deliver  both  conscience  and  con- 
sciousness of  every  deed,  or  word,  or  thought 
of  sin. 

In  all  this  world  there  is  no  system  of 
human  thought  so  packed  with  the  germs, 
with  the  bacilli,  of  casuistic  iniquity  and  soul 
deception. 

Christian  Science  is  an  unspeakable  social 
wickedness. 

It  denies  the  need  and  the  exalted  place  of 
marriage. 

It  denies  the  need  of  marriage  as  the  means 
for  the  reproduction  of  the  race.  It  denies  it 
on  the  basis  of  this  far  reaching  proposition 
that  matter  does  not  exist.  As  there  is  no 
matter  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  human 
body.  As  there  is  no  human  body,  then  no 
man  ever  begot  a  child,  no  woman  ever 
brought  it  to  the  birth.  As  man  has  never 
been  born  and  cannot  die,  the  race  has  neither 
increased  nor  decreased.  It  remains  in  statu 
quo.  It  has,  therefore,  no  need  of  reproduc- 
tion. Marriage  is  not  a  necessity  to  that  end. 
When  a  Christian  Science  wife  reaches  the 
high  altitude  where  its  much  married  and  di- 
vorced founder  now  dwells,  she  will  see  that 
the  woman  who  wishes  a  child  has  no  need 
of  the  agency  of  a  human  father;  all  she  has 
to  do  is  to  think  intensely  on  the  subject  and 
she. will  bring  forth  a  child;  and  this  child,  in 
the  final  analysis,  will  be  an  idea  born  of  her 
Miental  contemplation  and  brought  about  by 


MENTAL   ASSASSINATION  225 

self  division — that  is  to  say,  on  the  principle 
of  bacteria. 

Christian  Science  wives  are  to  recognize 
that  motherhood  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the 
word  is  not  the  highest  function  of  a  wife. 
They  are  to  recognize  that  marriage  on  a 
fleshly  basis  is  utterly  demoralizing  and  wholly 
disturbing  to  spiritual  conception  and  must — 
as  far  as  possible — be  repudiated.  Mother- 
hood, as  motherhood  has  been  understood 
since  the  beginning  of  the  world,  must  be 
avoided. 

Motherhood  avoided ! ! 

Motherhood  put  in  the  category  of  that 
which  is  below  a  woman's  highest  and  noblest 
function ! ! ! 

This  is  the  Christian  Science  idea  of  moth- 
erhood. 

Consider,  I  pray  you,  God's  idea  of  mother- 
hood. 

I  wish  I  could  describe  it  to  you. 

It  is  night  in  Judea. 

It  is  night  above  the  little  town  of  Bethle- 
hem. 

The  heavens  seem  washed  afresh  with  the 
waves  of  holiness  and  purity.  Each  world  is 
as  though  newly  burnished.  Out  there  Orion 
gleams  with  his  star  studded  belt.  Above  him 
the  Pleiades  scintillate  like  a  handful  of  dia- 
monds flung  down  by  the  largess  of  a  king. 
The  constellations  have  sailed  in  together  like 
a  fleet  of  silver  ships   from  an   infmite   sea. 


226  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

Two  great  planets  in  their  rush  to  shine  above 
the  Bethlehem  plains  have  come  so  near  each 
other  that  the  rim  of  the  one  seems  indenting 
the  other  until  they  shine  and  glow  like  one 
vast,  double  star.  From  the  heights  far  up, 
a  great  company  of  the  tall  angels  of  God 
come  down  to  the  borders  of  the  softly  sleep- 
ing world.  Then  a  notable  star  detaches  itself 
from  the  teeming  heavens  like  a  golden  lamp 
let  down  by  invisible  chains  and  unseen  mas- 
ter hands.  Out  of  this  swinging  censer  of 
flashing  light  and  expanding  splendor  there 
floats  upon  the  expectant  air  an  incense  of 
praise  never  before  heard  by  the  sons  of  men. 
And  now  it  is  the  voice  of  the  angelic  choir 
that  is  heard.  They  sing  and  all  the  earth  is 
still  while  the  strange,  heart-compelling  music 
fills  the  listening  ears  of  startled  shepherds 
keeping  their  peaceful  sheep.  They  look  and 
they  listen  with  awe-smitten  souls ;  and  lo, 
these  stars  are  throwing  down  their  tribute  of 
light  and  these  glory  angels  are  singing  their 
song  and  lifting  their  chants  above  a  new  born 
babe.  All  heaven  is  moved,  all  the  universe 
is  in  commotion,  over  a  babe.  There  in  a 
stable  by  the  way-side  is  a  pure  virgin  girl 
and  yet — a  mother.  In  her  arms  she  holds 
the  wonder  babe.  Childhood  and  motherhood 
find  all  heaven  bending  above  them.  God,  the 
Almighty,  has  selected  a  woman's  life  as  the 
gateway  by  which  he  might  come  into  this 
world.     The   Infinite  has  become  an  infant. 


MENTAL   ASSASSINATION  227 

The  eternal  fatherhood  owns  and  reveals  di- 
vine sonship  through  human  motherhood. 
From  henceforth  "Mother"  is  a  holy  name 
and  childhood  sacred  vv^ith  the  touch  of  God. 

This  is  God's  attitude  to  motherhood  and 
childhood. 

But  Christian  Science  degrades  both  moth- 
erhood and  childhood.  It  degrades  it  to  the 
level  of  merest  flesh.  In  its  eyes  the  love 
which  leads  a  woman  to  give  herself  body  and 
soul  to  the  man  whom  she  does  love ;  the  love 
which  leads  a  true  man  to  exalt  his  wife  as 
the  purest  and  most  wonderful  thing  in  all 
the  wide  world  and  make  her  a  radiant  queen 
regnant  over  his  life,  ia  Christian  Science, 
after  all,  is  no  better  than  the  animalism  of 
the  field  and  the  stockyard.  Christian  Science 
in  principle  would  lead  every  young  man  and 
every  young  woman  who  would  reach  the 
farther  heights,  to  set  aside  the  idea  of  mar- 
riage. In  the  inner  circle  of  Christian  Science 
marriage  is  looked  upon  as  on  the  lower  plane 
of  mortal  mind  and  not  amid  the  alpine  peaks 
of  spiritual  discernment.  In  order  to  attain 
to  this  altitude  of  serene  deliverance  from  the 
flesh,  not  only  should  the  unmarried  continue 
unmarried,  but  the  married  should  ignore  the 
marriage  bond  except  in  sublimated  and  ab- 
stract relation. 

In  the  nature  of  the  case,  therefore.  Chris- 
tian Science  leads  wives  to  be  separated  from 
their  husbands  and,  not  infrequently,  h.usbanO? 


228  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

to  be  separated  from  their  wives.  This  sepa- 
ration is  not  always  open  but  often  in  the 
secret  of  the  family  circle.  Apparently  one, 
and  yet  as  far  apart  as  though  living  in  sun- 
dered worlds. 

Here  is  a  man  who  worked  and  toiled  all 
the  day.  To  him  when  the  day's  work  was 
over  the  thought  of  home  was  as  comforting 
as  the  hope  of  a  haven  to  a  storm  tossed  mari- 
ner. When  he  entered  the  door  his  wife  met 
him  with  a  kiss,  with  arms  about  his  neck, 
with  a  caress  of  love  and  heart's  deep  affec- 
tion that  were  like  balm  to  his  aching  nerves, 
like  fresh  inspiration  to  his  jaded  will.  But 
now — how  changed  all  things.  Since  that 
wife  has  become  a  Christian  Scientist,  she  has 
been  taught  that  marriage  is  only  to  be  tol- 
erated, that  affection  must  be  abstract  and  not 
real;  that  she  must  not  yield  to  the  maternal 
sentiment  and  influence  of  love.  When  her 
husband  meets  her  she  is  kind  and  attentive, 
but  there  is  an  atmosphere  between  them.  To 
him  she  seems,  indeed,  to  be  living  in  another 
world  whither  he  cannot  follow  her.  He  no 
longer  receives  the  kiss,  the  caress,  the  re- 
sponse of  heart  to  heart,  the  unfolding  of  all 
the  treasures  of  her  love  and  sympathy.  He 
feels  as  one  who  has  been  chilled  by  an  icy 
blast.  He  goes  forth  and  by  and  by  his  feet 
are  found  in  other  paths  for  promised  peace 
and  comfort — and  lo — there  is  a  tragedy  in 
that  house. 


MENTAL   ASSASSINATION  229 

Or,  it  is  the  husband  who  has  become  a 
Christian  Scientist.  His  wife  once  looked 
upon  him  as  the  center  and  circumference  of 
her  home.  It  was  her  joy  to  love  him  and 
give  herself  wholly  to  him.  But  since  he  has 
become  a  Christian  Scientist  all  that  is 
changed.  When  he  enters  the  home,  he  keeps 
her  at  a  distance.  To  him  she  is  now  not  so 
much  his  wife,  the  companion  of  his  joys,  as 
the  subtle  temptress  of  the  flesh.  If  he  should 
yield  to  her  impulsive,  natural  attitude,  she 
would  drag  him  down,  he  thinks,  to  the  low 
level  of  mortal  mind — its  fleshly  illusions  and 
spiritual  destruction.  Her  heart  cries  out  for 
love,  and  all  that  love  may  mean  to  a  womanly 
and  maternal  heart.  He  steels  himself  against 
it.  He  dreads  a  Circe  in  the  woman  who 
wears  his  name.  And  she!  she  pines  and 
shrinks  away  in  an  atmosphere  that  smothers 
and  stifles  every  generous  hope,  every  true 
and  human  impulse. 

A  beautiful  woman  has  told  her  story  to 
the  world. 

Christian  Science  entered  her  home  and 
drew  away  from  her  the  heart  of  him  whom 
she  loved  and  whose  name  she  bore,  of  whose 
children  she  was  the  mother.  She  warns 
young  women  that  Christian  Science  will  de- 
stroy their  noblest  ideals  and  their  purest 
hopes;  that  it  appeals  to  the  baser  passion  cf 
self  end  self's  vv^ays,     She  exhorts  them  to 


230  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

turn  from  it,  to  shun  it  as  an  evil  thing,  the 
source  of  sure  and  certain  woe. 

Christian  Science  is  a  root  of  bitterness  in 
the  home. 

Men  and  women  have  told  me  and  have 
written  to  me  of  the  dark  shadow  in  their 
homes  since  the  blighting  thing  entered  their 
portals. 

Christian  Science  does  not  openly  forbid 
marriage.  Openly  it  tolerates  it  and  professes 
to  set  guards  around  it,  but  in  secret  discour- 
ages it.  It  teaches  that  marriage  may  for 
the  present  continue,  but  that  celibacy  is 
nearer  right  than  marriage,  the  unmarried 
better  than  the  married  state. 

Left  to  itself,  to  work  unhinderedly.  Chris- 
tian Science  will  cast  disrepute  on  marriage 
and  break  it  down.  Let  it  alone  and  it  will 
overthrow  marriage  as  the  great,  divine  bul- 
wark of  human  society,  the  one  uplifted  dyke 
that  keeps  back  the  inflowing  turgid  tide  of 
sensualism  and  black  corruption.  Christian 
Science  would  break  down  this  defence,  not 
all  at  once,  but  slowly,  insidiously,  and  surely. 

When  a  ship  comes  to  the  ports  of  this 
country  laden  with  pestilence  and  contagion, 
it  is  quarantined;  and  I  say  that  this  system. 
a  system  that  gives  rise  to  the  suggestion  of 
mental  assassination;  a  system  that  is  intel- 
lectually degrading;  a  system  that  paralyzes 
all  the  values  of  human  comity,  fellowship 
and  sympathy ;  a  system  that  is  downright  im- 


MENTAL   ASSASSINATION  231 

morality  and  actual  social  wickedness ;  a  sys- 
tem that  is  a  physical,  intellectual,  moral  and 
social  danger,  ought  to  be  quarantined  and 
kept  from  the  midst  of  decent  society. 

But  Christian  Science  is  not  only  a  social 
wickedness,  it  is  a  soul  destroyer,  a  spiritual 
betrayer.  It  betrays  Christianity.  It  is  the 
Judas  Iscariot  of  Christianity.  It  betrays  it 
as  Judas  Iscariot  betrayed  the  Son  of  God. 

Look  at  that  scene  of  betrayal. 

It  is  night.  It  is  half  day  and  half  night. 
You  can  see  the  great  tree  trunks,  the  old, 
gnarled  olive  trees,  drawn  in  sharp  silhouette 
against  the  changing  sky.  Men  are  coming 
and  going  with  lanterns  and  staves.  And  now 
Judas  comes  up  the  green  slope  of  the  moun- 
tain. He  approaches  Jesus.  He  gives  him 
the  All  hail  and  kisses  him.  Jesus  steps  back 
and  says  rebukingly,  "Judas,  betrayest  thou 
the  Son  of  man  with  a  kiss?" 

Christian  Science  comes  like  Judas. 

It  comes  with  the  All  hail  of  his  name  upon 
its  lips.  It  gives  him  the  kiss,  and  then  it  be- 
trays him.  But  it  is  shrewder  than  Judas. 
He  sold  his  Master  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver ; 
Christian  Science  sells  him  for  many  times 
thirty  pieces  of  silver.  It  betrays  him  while 
it  salutes  and  kisses  him.  It  betrays  him  by 
denying  everything  for  which  he  stands.  Our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  stands  for  the  personality 
of  God,  for  prayer,  for  atonement  by  the 
shedding   of   blood,   the   resurrection   of   the 


232  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

body,  ascension  to,  and  session  in,  heaven, 
salvation  through  faith  in  him,  salvation 
through  faith  in  him  and  in  and  through  no 
other,  the  second  coming,  final  judgment  and 
everlasting  punishment  of  the  unrighteous. 

Christian  Science  denies  all  this. 

It  denies  the  personality  of  God.  God  is 
not  a  person.  God  is  only  a  principle.  There 
is  no  God  in  the  universe  to  whom  a  tired  soul 
may  turn  and  say,  "Thou,"  and  call  for  help. 
No  God  in  the  universe  who  can  look  down  on 
that  weary  soul  and  say,  "Thou  art  my  child, 
come  unto  me  and  rest."  It  denies  prayer. 
There  is  nothing  for  which  to  pray.  No  one 
to  whom  to  pray.  It  denies  the  virgin  birth. 
It  denies  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  denies  the 
reality  of  his  body,  teaches  that  he  was  not  al- 
ways spiritual,  not  always  free  from  error. 
He  never  made  atonement  on  the  cross.  His 
shed  blood  wLo  of  no  more  avail  than  when 
flowing  in  his  veins.  He  never  shed  his  blood. 
He  never  died  on  the  cross.  While  the  world 
thought  he  was  dead  and  bound  in  the  tomb, 
he  was  alive,  hiding  from  the  gaze  of  men. 
He  never  ascended  to  heaven.  At  that  point 
of  so-called  ascension  he  disappeared.  He 
ceased  to  exist.  He  does  not  exist  to-day. 
The  Jesus  idea  has  given  way  to  the  Christ 
idea.  There  is  no  heaven,  heaven  is  only  a 
state  of  mind.  There  is  no  judgment  to  come. 
There  is  no  hell,  and  there  are  none  who  are 
lost.    No  one  need.=  "-^  be  saved  from  sin.    Ip 


MENTAL    ASSASSINATION  233 

Holy  Scripture  it  is  written,  "Tliis  is  a  faith- 
ful saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sin- 
ners." Christian  Science  takes  up  that  scrip- 
ture and  makes  it  to  say,  "Christ  Jesus  came 
into  the  world  not  to  save  sinners,  but  to  save 
them  from  believing  they  were  sinners." 

Christian  Science  denies  the  Bible.  It  de- 
nies it  as  the  infallible  Word  of  God.  It 
teaches  that  the  Bible  is  a  book  full  of  errors, 
full  of  fables  and  fictions.  It  cannot  be  read 
safely  without  the  key  which  Mrs.  Eddy  has 
invented.  That  key  is  her  book.  "Christian 
Science  and  Health,"  printed  and  sold  at 
three  dollars  and  a  half  a  copy.  No  Christian 
Scientist  must  read  the  Bible  apart  from  that 
book.  Each  Christian  Scientist  must  purchase 
a  copy.  No  Christian  Scientist  must  lend  or 
give  away  a  copy.  Christian  Science  by 
throwing  doubts  on  the  value  of  the  Bible, 
charging  it  with  error  and  falsehood,  testi- 
fying that  it  has  been  put  together  and  com- 
piled by  men  who  were  in  the  darkness  of 
mortal  mind,  making  it  necessary  to  read 
"Christian  Science  and  Health"  in  order  that 
its  fables  and  follies  may  be  revealed  and  that 
the  reader  may  not  be  led  astray — Christian 
Science  in  doing  all  this,  seeks  steadily  and 
subtly  to  betray  the  very  citadel  of  truth. 
Follow  Christian'  Science  and  sooner  or  later 
you  will  reject  the  Bible. 

Christian   Science   i.>   Benedict  Arnold  and 


234  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

Judas  Iscariot  rolled  into  one.  It  has  all  the 
treason  of  Benedict  Arnold  and  all  the  sordid- 
ness  of  Judas  Iscariot. 

Compare  the  founder  of  Christianity  with 
the  founder  of  Christian  Science.  Look  at 
the  birth  of  Jesus.  He  was  born  in  a  road- 
side kahn.  He  was  so  poor  that  he  wore  a 
seamless  robe,  the  common,  every  day  badge 
of  poverty.  He  was  so  poor,  as  he  himself 
said,  that  the  birds  of  the  air  had  nests  and 
the  foxes  had  holes,  but  the  Son  of  man  had 
not  where  to  lay  his  head.  He  owned  no  real 
estate.  He  found  his  food  sometimes  in  a 
cornfield,  and  when  he  died  was  buried  in  a 
borrowed  grave. 

But  look  at  the  founder  of  Christian  Sci- 
ence. She  owns  real  estate  and  plenty  of  it. 
She  has  had  a  beautiful  home,  and  all  the 
comfort  and  luxury  of  a  well  conducted  busi- 
ness. She  has  recently  settled  a  lawsuit  in 
which  she  paid  over  some  hundreds  of  thous- 
ands of  dollars. 

Jesus  went  forth  and  healed  the  sick  with- 
out money  and  without  price. 

This  woman  draws  her  income  from  the 
money  of  her  dupes. 

Jesus  went  among  the  poor  and  the  lowly. 
It  was  said  of  him,  "This  man  receiveth  sin- 
ners, and  eateth  with  them."  Christian  Sci- 
ence does  not  go  among  the  poor  and  the  out- 
cast. It  would  not  dare  to  do  so.  It  dare 
not   go   into   the   tenement   where   men   and 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION  235 

women  on  the  poorest  food  are  barely  living; 
where  misery  and  disease  do  their  deadly  and 
their  daily  work.  It  would  not  dare  to  tell 
the  woman  burning  with  the  fever  of  starva- 
tion that  she  is  not  sick,  that  she  has  no  fever 
and  needs  no  food.  It  dare  not  go  into  the 
wretched  hovel  where  a  broken  hearted  mother 
weeps  above  the  only  treasure  she  had,  and 
the  only  solace  of  her  aching  days — her  little 
babe.  It  dare  not  go  to  her  and  say  the  child 
is  not  dead,  that,  in  fact,  she  never  had  a 
child — she  never  had  more  than  an  ideal,  and 
all  she  has  to  do  is  to  recall  her  ideal  senti- 
ment and  she  will  be  happy. 

Look  at  this  man,  crushed,  bleeding,  every 
bone  in  his  body  broken,  unconscious,  breath- 
ing out  his  last  breath  while  his  wife,  clad  in 
her  thin  dress,  and  v^^ith  her  pinched  cheeks, 
moans  and  croons  above  him  and  calls  aloud 
the  name  to  which  he  will  never  more  respond. 
Tell  me  a  Christian  Scientist  dare  go  to  the 
silent  crowd  standing  awe-struck  above  the 
mass  of  bleeding  flesh  and  broken  bones  and 
say  with  cheerful  and  vibrant  voice  that  the 
man  is  not  hurt,  he  is  not  bleeding,  not  a  bone 
of  him  is  broken,  he  has  never  fallen,  there 
has  been  no  accident.  A  Christian  Scientist 
dare  not  do  that  in  such  a  crowd.  If  the 
Christian  Scientist  did  dare  do  it  and  were  a 
man,  he  would  be  driven  from  the  midst  with 
blows  and  hootings ;  if  it  were  a  woman,  they 
won)  I  mock  her  and  insult  her  as  a  disgrace  to 


2S6  tHE  SIGNS  OF  tHE  TIMES 

that  sex  which  ought  to  stand  for  all  there  h 
of  love,  of  sympathy  and  tender  help. 

Christian  Science  is  not  only  a  system  of 
treason  and  betrayal,  it  is  the  most  monumen- 
tal system  ever  Invented  to  fool  the  people. 

It  fools  Christians  who  are  more  taken  up 
with  their  body  than  with  their  soul;  who 
know  more  about  the  word  of  man  than  the 
Word  of  God. 

It  fools  the  unsaved  because  it  substitutes 
the  cure  of  the  body  for  the  salvation  of  the 
soul,  and  makes  the  deliverance  of  the  body 
equivalent  to  the  redemption  of  the  soul.  It 
fools  the  unsaved  by  assuring  them  that  they 
are  already  saved,  guaranteeing  their  security 
for  a  price  current  with  the  times. 

It  fools  people  generally  and  mainly  because 
it  comes  on  the  same  basis  as  any  other  patent 
medicine,  bringing  in  its  testimonials  as  evi- 
dence of  cure,  appealing  to  that  which  is  ever 
the  most  quick  to  respond — the  hope  of  re- 
lief from  physical  ills. 

It  fools  the  people  by  talking  about  religion, 
offering  its  book  as  materia  medica  and  turn- 
ing its  treatment  into  the  exercise  of  a  paid 
dispensary. 

Christian  Science  is  a  false  pretence. 

It  pretends  to  be  spiritual  and  to  deny  the 
animal,  to  be  occupied  with  the  soul  and  not 
with  the  body,  and  then  finds  its  most  lucra- 
tive field  in  the  realm  of  the  animal  and  the 
cure  of  the  body.    It  denies  matter,  and  builds 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION  237 

churches  of  marble  and  granite.     It  denies 

matter,  and  prints  its  teachings  in  a  material 
book  and  sells  it  for  material  dollars.  It  de- 
nies the  existence  of  evil,  and  one  of  its  most 
prominent  teachers  has  been  tried  for  error 
It  denies  accident  or  possible  danger,  and  yet 
its  founder  was  removed  from  one  house  to 
another  in  a  special  car — one  locomotive  pre- 
ceding the  train  and  another  following  to 
keep  the  track  clear.  It  denies  the  changes 
of  temperature,  and  its  founder  was  lifted  out 
of  her  carriage  carefully  wrapped  in  sealskin, 
so  it  is  reported,  and  borne  by  stalwart  arms 
into  the  building  from  which  she  has  never 
since  been  seen  to  emerge  alone.  It  denies 
death,  and  is  responsible  for  the  suggestion  of 
mental  assassination. 

Christian  Science  is  a  perversion  of  divine 
order. 

God  has  set  up  headship  in  man.  He  has 
set  it  up  in  the  family,  in  government,  and  in 
the  church.  In  the  public  assembly  of  the 
church  he  has  forbidden  a  woman  to  teach  or 
to  speak.  He  has  commanded  her  to  keep 
silence.  Christian  Science  is  a  repudiation  of 
this  order.  Christian  Science  exhorts  a 
woman  to  break  the  divine  command  concern- 
ing silence  and  teaching.  Christian  Science 
exists  because  a  woman  did  not  keep  silence, 
and  because  she  persisted  in  her  rebellious  de- 
termination to  speak  and  to  teach.  Christian 
Science  is  distinctively  a  female  system.     It  is 


238  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

the  peculiar  invention  of  a  woman.  Its  teach- 
ers and  healers  are  women.  It  has  In  it  here 
and  there  a  class  of  male  representatives. 
A  certain  witty  dean  once  said  that  society 
was  divided  into  three  classes,  males,  females 
and  priests.  Christian  Science  is  divided 
into  females  and  some  men  with  female  ten- 
dencies. The  Devil  fooled  the  world  through 
the  first  woman,  he  is  now  trying  to  fool 
the  world  through  another  woman.  He  led 
it  into  sin  through  the  first  woman,  he  would 
lead  it  away  from  the  remedy  of  sin  through 
the  other  woman. 

Christian  Science  has  one  supreme  aim. 

Its  aim  is  to  take  away  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
alone  saviour  of  men.  It  denies  his  actual 
birth,  repudiates  him  as  the  Christ,  makes  him 
to  be  as  full  of  errors  as  other  mortals,  re- 
jects the  atonement  of  the  cross,  says  he  never 
died,  never  was  buried  and  never  rose,  does 
not  exalt  his  name  above  every  name,  refuses 
to  bow  to  him  as  Lord  and  God,  teaches  that 
he  does  not  sit  upon  the  infinite  throne,  and 
that  he  is  not  in  heaven  at  all.  In  short,  it 
turns  his  body  into  an  apparition,  his  blood 
to  nothingness,  his  cross  to  a  myth,  his  death 
to  a  fiction,  his  burial  to  a  mockery,  and  him- 
self to  a  personality  that  never  was  real  and 
no  longer  exists. 

Christian  Science  is  a  peril  of  perils. 

It  is  a  peril  to  the  health  and  security  of  a 
community.     It  is  a  peril  to  it  because  it  re- 


MENTAL   ASSASSINATION  239 

pudiates  the  system  of  medicine,  the  skill  of 
the  physician,  throws  the  sick  into  the  hands 
of  charlatans,  binds  them  up  in  the  bonds  of 
ignorance  or  fanaticism,  makes  them  a  disaster 
to  themselves  and  channels  of  contagion  and 
disease  to  others. 

It  is  a  peril  to  Christianity.  It  is  a  peril,  be- 
cause it  puts  on  the  robes  of  Christian  pro- 
fession and  hides  its  real  antagonism  under 
the  plea  of  a  higher  and  more  spiritual  con- 
cept. 

It  is  a  peril  to  Christianity,  because  it  re- 
peats the  name  of  Christ,  wards  off  suspicion 
and  then,  slowly  but  systematically,  seeks  to 
deny  him. 

It  is  a  peril  to  Christianity,  because  it  quotes 
the  Bible  as  its  authority,  professes  to  be  its 
best  interpreter  and  then,  in  the  dark,  seeks, 
little  by  little,  to  wrench  it  loose  from  the 
place  of  faith  and  absolute  confidence. 

It  is  a  peril  to  the  Christian,  because  it 
talks  of  God  and  the  Father  and,  step  by 
step,  leads  the  Christian  to  see  that  God  is 
not  a  person,  and  Fatherhood  but  a  name. 

It  is  a  peril  to  the  Christian,  because  while 
it  talks  to  him  of  Christ,  it  leads  him  softly 
and  insensibly  away  from  Christ,  or  quite  be- 
yond him,  where  he  is  his  own  saviour,  his 
own  Christ,  and  his  own  very  God. 

It  is  a  peril  to  the  Christian,  because  it  leads 
him  eventually  to  deny  the  Lord  who  bought 
him,   anrl   thus   brings   him   dangerously   near 


240  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

that  threshold  where  swift  destruction  falls 
on  all  who  finally  deny  hini. 

It  is  a  peril  to  the  unsaved,  because  it  stupe- 
fies him  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice,  closes  his 
eyes  to  mortal  danger,  cries  peace  when  there 
is  no  peace,  and  allows  him  to  plunge  head- 
long into  a  hopeless  and  unredeemable 
eternity. 

Christian  Science  is  a  sign  of  the  times. 

It  is  a  sign  of  that  time  of  which  our  Lord 
forewarned  when  he  said  false  teachers  would 
come  in  his  name  and  deceive  many,  doing 
many  wonderful  works  and  deceiving,  if  it 
were  possible,  the  very  elect;  that  time  of 
v/hich  an  apostle  warns  when  he  said  the 
church  would  give  heed  to  teachers  who 
should  turn  them  away  from  the  truth  and 
turn  them  to  fables;  that  time  of  which  an 
apostle  warned  when  he  said  it  would  be  nec- 
essary to  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  once 
for  all  delivered  to  the  saints;  that  time  when 
the  professing  church  would  listen  to  wander- 
ing spirits  and  doctrines  of  demons;  that  time 
when  spiritual  apprehension  would  be  so  low- 
that  evil  and  false  doctrine  would  find  easy 
entrance  to  its  midst :  when  the  hope  of  tlie 
church,  the  Coming  of  the  Lord  would,  be  set 
aside,  and  the  apostles  who  proclaimed  it  de- 
clared to  be  mistaken ;  in  short,  that  time  of 
which  the  Son  of  God  specifically  warned 
when  he  announced  that  the  faith  would  dis- 
appear from  the  earth,  and  that  its  waning  and 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION  241 

absence  would  be  the  threshold  and  witness 
of  his  Coming. 

Christian  Science  is  a  sign  that  the  Coming 
of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh. 

It  is  a  witness  that  the  forces  of  heaven  and 
the  forces  of  hell  are  gathering  for  the  battle 
of  the  great  day  of  God  Almighty ;  that  Satan 
is  getting  himself  together  for  his  last  des- 
perate act;  that  in  this  bold  and  yet  subtle  at- 
tempt to  counterfeit  Christianity  through 
Christian  Science,  he  is  paving  the  way  to  set 
up  the  man  of  sin,  the  son  of  perdition,  he  who 
is  the  final  incarnation  of  himself;  that  all 
things  are  moving  forward  to  that  moment 
when  the  Son  of  God  will  secretly  and  sud- 
denly withdraw  his  Church  of  regenerated  be- 
lievers from  the  world  to  himself  and  then, 
when  the  evil  is  fully  headed  up,  will  descend 
with  the  Church  in  outbreaking  indignation 
and  wrath  upon  Satan,  his  confederates,  and 
all  who  have  been  seduced  and  entangled  by 
him. 

Christian  Science  is  a  witness  of  all  these 
things  and  is,  therefore,  a  warning  to  every 
spiritual  mind,  a  cry  to  every  hearing  ear. 

As  one  set  for  the  defence  of  the  Gospel  and 
called  upon  to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of 
God,  I  lift  my  voice  and  word  against  it. 

I  warn  that  it  is  a  pestilence,  a  fever,  a 
miasma,  a  poison.  It  is  Satan's  masterpiece, 
Satan's  disguise,  and  the  sure  destruction  of 
every  unwary  soul  who  yields  to  it. 


242  TME    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

In  describing  it  and  warning  against  it, 
every  symbol  of  evil  may  be  used,  every  meta- 
phor of  iniquity  mixed,  all  the  collocation  of 
terms  known  to  human  language  cxliaustcd, 
and  then,  when  this  has  been  done,  not  enough 
will  have  been  said,  nor  emphasis  sufficiently 
given,  to  paint  it,  picture  it,  denounce,  and 
warn  against  it. 

I  warn  you  to  shun  it.  I  exhort  you  to  flee 
from  it.  Refuse  to  admit  it  into  your  house. 
If  it  comes  in  the  name  of  friendship,  do  not 
receive  it.  Refuse  absolutely  to  discuss  it  or 
hold  controversy  with  it,  any  more  than  you 
would  clasp  hands  with  a  leper  or  lie  in  his 
foul  and  fetid  embrace. 

I  call  upon  you  to  turn  from  this  evil  thing 
which  smiles  and  speaks  under  its  breath  and, 
while  it  whispers,  steals  away  that  name  which 
is  above  every  name,  the  name  which  guaran- 
tees forgiveness  of  sins,  opens  the  close  shut 
grave,  brings  immortality  to  light,  illumines 
the  way  to  heaven  and  the  throne  of  God,  gives 
peace  here  and  glory  there;  the  name  over 
which  angels  sing,  before  which  angels  con- 
fess, and  at  whose  mention  the  whole  universe 
must,  finally,  bend  the  knee — the  name  which 
is  above  every  name,  whether  named  in 
heaven,  or  in  earth,  or  under  the  earth — the 
name  of  Jesus. 

Turn,  I  pray  you,  from  that  pestilential  and 
shameful  thing  which  would  blot  out  the 
name,  the  person,  the  work,  the  present  priestly 


MENTAL  ASSASSINATION  243 

office,  and  the  coming  glory  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

Turn  before  the  Lord  himself  descends  in 
judgment  0:1  those  who  have  not  exalted  his 
name  above  every  name,  and  who  have  not 
owned  him  as  Lord  and  God. 

Turn  from  tliis  thing  which,  calling  itseli' 
Christian  Science,  is  neither  scientific  nor 
Christian  and,  beneath  its  indecent  defiance  of 
science  and  its  treacherous  betrayal  of  Christ, 
conceals  the  face  of  Antichrist  and  the  form 
of  Satan. 


Note. — Since  the  above  was  written,  Mrs.  Mary 
Baker  Glover  Eddy  has  died.  A  physician  testifies 
that  her  death  was  due  to  pneumonia.  Her  appear- 
ance in  death  was  that  of  an  old  woman. 

In  face  of  this  event — a  question  arises : 

Why  did   she  die? 

She  taught  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  death. 
No  one  ever  died.  No  one  does  die.  Death  is  an 
error.     To  think  oneself  dead  is  to  be  deceived. 

Why  then  did  she  allow  herself  to  be  deceived? 

One  of  her  representatives  explains  her  death  by 
saying  that  she  passed  her  last  days  ''in  error." 

Think  of  it! 

The  head  and  founder  of  the  Christian  Science 
Ghurch,  the  author  of  a  book  without  error — ending 
her  days  in  a  state  of  error — and  denying  all  for 
which  she  and  her  Church  have  stood. 

She  denied  old  age  and  became  a  withered  old 
woman.  She  denied  disease  and  died  of  pneumonia. 
She  repudiated  death  and  became  a  lifeless  corpse. 

What  shall  be  said? 

What  can  be  said  but  that  the  Devil  who  deceived 
her  forsook  her  at   the   last. 

What  can  be  said  but  that  in  the  Great  Hereafter, 
at  the  final  judgment,  she  must  meet  that  Christ 
whose  actual  death  and  resurrection  she  denied,  and 
answer  for  the  souls  whom  she  entangled  and  led 
away  into  hopeless  perdition  through  herSatanically 
inspired  words. 


PRESENT  DAY  MIRACLES 

"And  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Take  heed  that 
no  man  deceive  you.  For  many  shall  come  in 
my  name,  saying  I  am  Christ;  and  shall 
deceive  many."    Matthew,  24:4,  5. 

After  He  had  finished  His  discourse  in  the 
temple,  Jesus  went  forth.  His  disciples  came 
to  Him  to  show  Him  the  great  buildings 
of  which  the  temple  was  composed.  He  said 
to  them  that  not  one  stone  should  be  left 
standing  upon  another.  The  disciples  were 
astonished.  What  manner  of  man  was  this 
who,  with  a  word,  set  aside  the  nation's 
pride  and  glory,  and  with  calm  assurance 
spoke  of  coming  disaster. 

He  passed  on  out  of  the  city.  They  fol- 
lowed in  silence.  Together  they  crossed  over 
the  brook  Kidron.  They  went  with  Him  up 
the  slopes  of  Olivet.  On  the  mountain's  brow 
He  sat  down.  Unable  longer  to  control  their 
wonder,  the  disciples  besought  Him  to  tell 
them  when  the  destruction  of  the  temple 
should  be,  what  should  be  the  sign  of  His 
coming,  and  the  end  of  the  age. 

While  they  were  questioning  Him,  He  was 
gazing  at  the  scene  unrolling  at  His  feet. 

He  had  a  wondrous  outlook. 

Jerusalem  lay  before  Him  under  the  sun- 


Jf^RESENT  DAY  MlftACLES  245 

shine  of  a  cloudless  Eastern  sky.  The  tem- 
ple, its  walls  like  a  piled  up  mass  of  carved 
and  gleaming  snow,  its  roof  studded  with 
golden  spikes  that  no  bird  of  passage  might 
stop  or  stain  it  for  an  instant,  crowned  the 
sacred  hill  of  Zion.  Like  a  huge,  uplifted 
rock  in  the  midst  of  a  swirling  sea,  it  stood 
there,  while  wave  after  wave  of  splendid  light 
swept  over  it  in  an  amber  flood,  flecking  the 
marble  walls  with  shine  and  shade,  illumin- 
ing them  in  the  open  with  the  pink  of  hidden 
flames,  and  in  the  darker  courts  to  colder 
grays  or  deepening  blues.  On  either  side 
the  houses  of  the  town  retreated  as  though 
the  temple  were  too  glorious,  too  awe-inspiring 
for  common  approach.  Detached,  uplifted, 
as  though  it  would  summon  the  very  heaven 
to  be  its  proper  dome,  it  remained  there  like 
the  concrete  note  of  a  silent  song,  a  chiseled 
poem,  a  thing  of  beauty,  a  ceaseless  joy  to 
the  eye  of  man  to  gaze  upon. 

In  the  farther  distance  the  mountains  walled 
themselves  round  about  the  city  like  giant 
sentinels  ordained  of  God.  Tabor  loomed  up 
dark  and  solemn  with  the  memory  of  the 
mystery-laden  Transfiguration ;  and  Hermon, 
exalted,  majestic,  sublime,  lifted  himself  above 
his  fellows,  clothed  with  spotless  white  like 
the  sacred  robe  Of  some  more  than  mortal 
priest,  and  from  his  immaculate  heights  sent 
down  the  distillation  of  his  crystal  dew  like 
a  benediction  to  the  holy  place  on  Zion. 


246  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

On  every  side  of  the  city  the  ground  fell 
away  in  folds,  as  though  a  tossing  sea  had 
suddenly  been  turned  to  stone  while  yet  its 
billows  surged  and  rolled.  Some  of  the  rocks 
were  painfully  barren,  and  red,  and  brown, 
and  livid,  as  though  scorched  by  penal  fires ; 
the  very  air  that  swept  over  them  seemed  to 
have  in  it  the  breath  of  curses,  such  as  those 
which  sounded  from  the  sides  of  Gerizim  in 
days  of  old.  Others  of  the  rocks  were  cov- 
ered with  countless  wild  flowers,  massed  to- 
gether in  a  riot  of  color.  Everywhere  the 
harsher  features  of  the  landscape  were  soft- 
ened by  the  dusky  green  of  olives,  the  sober 
mourning  of  the  cypress,  and  the  kingly  dig- 
nity of  the  palm.  The  valley  of  Gehenna  from 
time  to  time  sent  up  its  heavy  column  of 
smoke,  now  and  then,  like  a  black  veil,  shut- 
ting out  the  beauty  of  the  temple;  here  and 
there  the  fires  of  the  burning  offal  glowed 
luridly — as  though  the  dull  gates  of  that  fore- 
warned "hell  fire"  had  opened  on  the  glow- 
ing embers  of  the  "damned"  in  woe.  The  hill- 
sides were  filled  with  tents  and  impromptu 
constructions  to  hold  and  shelter  the  million 
numbered  horde  that  had  come  from  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  to  keep  in  judicial 
blindness  that  passover,  whose  typical  beauty 
was  to  find  its  divine  but  tragic  fulfilment 
in  the  sad-faced  man  of  grief  who  sat  there, 
and  watched  it  all. 

And  as  He  sat  and  watched  it  all,  He  saw 


PRESENT    DAY    MIRACLES  247 

far  beyond  the  rim  of  the  circling  mountains, 
far  beyond  the  end  of  this  day  so  swiftly 
drawing  to  its  close.  The  centuries  opened 
their  vista  to  his  gaze.  He  saw  Jerusalem 
surrounded  by  a  trench  and,  surmounting  the 
trench,  a  wattled  fence,  both  trench  and  fence 
making  a  depth  and  heighth  so  great  that 
those  within  the  city  might  not  go  out,  and 
none  without  might  enter  in.  He  saw  the 
Mount  of  Scopus  and  all  the  surrounding  hills 
clothed  in  scarlet,  and-  this  scarlet,  the  uni- 
form of  Roman  soldiers.  He  saw  the  bronzed 
eagles  of  Titus,  and  knew  that  Rome  had 
come  to  destroy  the  guilty  city.  He  beheld  the 
starving  thousands.  He  saw  the  indescribable 
scene  of  famine  and  horror  within  the  be- 
leaguered town.  Then  the  final  assault,  the 
capture,  the  holocaust  of  slain,  the  dead  and 
the  dying,  the  city  leveled  to  the  ground,  the 
plowshare  drawn  over  its  foundations,  and 
Zion  become,  as  it  had  been  foretold,  a 
"ploughed  field,"  the  nation  carried  away  into 
captivity,  and  become  Vi^anderers  throughout 
the  earth. 

Nor  did  his  vision  rest  there.  He  saw  on 
down  the  age  to  its  close.  He  saw  kingdom 
rise  against  kingdom,  and  nation  against  na- 
tion. He  heard  the  sound  of  war  and  rumors 
of  war.  He  saw  sunken-eyed  famine  and 
filthy-lipped  pestilence  walking  check  by  jowl 
through  the  high  places  of  the  earth.  He 
saw  lawlessness  and  all  the   dark  brood  of 


248  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

anarchy,  socialism,  vice,  open  iniquity,  v/aning 
faith  and  nameless  sin,  crowding  into  view. 
Nowhere  did  He  get  the  vision  of  Gospex 
triumph,  or  a  converted  world.  Not  once 
did  He  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  purple  and 
the  gold  of  millennial  days  during  His  ab- 
sence. On  every  side  He  saw  increasing 
spiritual  coldness  a'-d  threatening  woe.  He 
saw  coming,  a  time  of  tribulation,  which  He 
calls,  "Tribulation,  the  great  one,"  a  tribula- 
tion such  as  the  world  had  never  known  be- 
fore and  never  shall  know  again ;  a  time  of 
terror  so  great  that  if  He,  Himself,  should 
not  interfere  no  flesh  could  live. 

Foreseeing  all  this.  He  turns  and  warns  His 
disciples  in  language  so  plain  that  none  can 
miss  the  meaning.  He  warns  not  only  of 
these  things  but  of  a  peril  more  serious  than 
all  others  combined — more  serious  because 
more  subtle.  He  warns  them  against  the 
peril  of  an  apparent  goodness  and  righteous- 
ness coming  in  His  name ;  a  goodness  and 
righteousness  which  will  seek  to  certify  them- 
selves by  wonderful  works,  by  deeds  of  heal- 
ing, and  by  words  that  breathe  and  offer  peace. 

The  peril  against  which  He  warns  is 
not  devils  coming  with  hoofs  and  horns ;  not 
sin  outraging  every  sense  of  decency  and 
propriety,  but  messengers,  like  angels  of  light, 
inviting  to  so-called  ways  of  pleasantness  and 
truth,  v/earing  the  name  of  Christ  with  such 
easy  claim,  using  His  speech,  proclaiming  His. 


PRESF.NT    DAY    MIRACLCS  249 

doctrine,  and  accomplishing  sucli  wonders  in 
the  realm  of  bodv  and  soul  in  His  all-appealing 
name  that,  if  it  were  possible,  tlicy  should 
deceive  the  very  elect. 

That  peril  is  upon  us  now. 

At  this  present  moment  there  are  three  sys- 
tems in  the  worM  which  come  in  the  name  of 
Christ  and,  in  His  name,  profess  to  do  many 
wonderful  works. 

Each  system  is  a  rank  peril  to  truth  and 
the  souls  of  men. 

These  three  systems  are : 

ROMANISM. 

EMMANUELISM. 

CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE. 

Consider  Romanism : 

From  the  very  beginning  Rome  has  pro- 
fessed to  work  miracles.  Again  and  again 
cases  are  reported  in  which  by  the  appearance 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  a  spot  of  land,  a  rock, 
a  cave,  a  tree,  or  a  fountain,  has  been  invested 
with  healing  powers.  Each  year  there  is  a 
pilgrimage  of  thousands  to  Lourdes.  From 
waters  of  the  fountain,  and  those  wKo  are 
time  to  time  at  the  height  of  the  season,  so  it  is 
said,  the  Virgin  appears  there,  troubles  the 
privileged  to  enter  the  waters  or  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  Virgin's  face,  are  healed  im- 
mediately. Relics  of  the  true  cross  are  to 
be  found  all  over  the  world,  preserved  with 
jealous  care  in  the  cathedrals  or  churches  of 
designated  places.     The  bones  of  saints  are 


250  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

carefully  guarded,  as  well  as  the  hair  of  mar- 
tyrs, and  the  blood  of  prophets.  In  the 
city  of  Naples  there  is  said  to  take  place 
from  time  to  time,  the  miracle  of  the  liquefac- 
tion of  the  blood  of  Jeremiah.  By  touch,  or 
even  sight,  of  these  relics  multitudes  are  re- 
ported to  have  been  cured,  the  blind  receiv- 
ing their  sight,  the  lame  throwing  away  their 
crutches  and  leaping  for  joy.  Recently,  in 
this  city  of  New  York,  the  more  or  less  au- 
thentic bones  of  "Saint  Anne"  have  been  on 
exhibition  in  a  Roman  church.  Crowds  have 
visited  the  place  and  most  startling  cures  are 
proclaimed. 

Emmanuelism  is  another  system  of  pro- 
fessed healing. 

It  actually  takes  the  name  of  Christ. 

It  is  called,  and  everywhere  known  as, 
Emmanuelism.  It  takes  its  name  from  the 
Church  (an  Episcopal  church  in  Boston) 
where  the  system  finds  its  headquarters.  It 
professes  to  cure  disease  by  the  operation  of 
mind  upon  body.  It  claims  that  in  operating 
in  this  fashion  it  is  using  the  very  means  and 
methods  of  Christ  himself.  As  in  Romanism, 
some  startling  results  are  said  to  have  taken 
place ;  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  doubt  that 
many  of  these  reports  are  true. 

Christian  Science  is  still  another  professedly 
healing  system.  It  not  only  comes  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  but  professes  to  be  true  and 
original  Christianity  with  an  added  illumina- 


PRESENT   DAY    MIRACLES  251 

tion  of  truth.  Its  special  object  is  not  to 
cure  the  world  of  the  fact  of  sin,  but  to  cure 
men  of  the  folly  of  believing  in  the  fiction  of 
sin ;  not  to  cure  men  of  actual  disease,  but 
to  demonstrate  that  disease  does  not  exist; 
that  there  is  neither  sickness  nor  death.  Its 
text  book,  like  a  patent  medicine  circular, 
contains  a  long  list  of  the  names  of  those 
who  are  ready  to  certify  that  they  were  once 
under  the  delusion  of  disease,  imagined  them- 
selves sick  with  every  kind  of  ill  from  head- 
ache to  cancer,  were  unhappy  and  wholly  mis- 
erable, but  now,  thanks  to  Christian  Science, 
have  become  perfectly  sound  and  possess  a 
quietness  and  peace  that  might  well  be  the 
envy  of  many  worried  and  tempest-tossed 
Christians. 

These  wonders  are  being  performed  (so  it 
is  reported)  daily;  and  there  is  every  reason 
to  expect  they  will  be  multiplied.  This  is  an 
age  of  wonders,  wonders  in  the  sky,  wonders 
in  the  earth,  wonders  in  the  realms  of  science 
and  philosophy.  Beyond  doubt  we  shall  yet 
see  wonders  in  the  realm  of  therapeutics  be- 
yond anything  now  known,  and  increasingly 
performed  by  these  three  great  systems,  Ro- 
manism, Emmanuelism  and  Christian  Science. 

While  these  systems  have  wrought  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  none  of  the  wonders  per- 
formed by  them  have  been  produced  either 
by  the  Spirit  or  the  power  of  Christ.  These 
systems  are  not  of  Christ.    That  they  are  not 


<?52  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES 

of  Christ  may  be  seen  'by  bringing  them  into 
the  light  of  the  Word  of  God  and  testing 
them  by  it. 

Let  Romanism  be  tested  by  a  "thus  saith 
the  Lord." 

Romanism  is  a  compound  of  Judaism, 
Paganism  and  perverted  Christianity. 

It  is  a  corrupt  Judaism ;  that  is  to  say,  a 
counterfeit  Judaism. 

It  has  taken  its  priesthood  from  Judaism. 
In  doing  this  it  has  transgressed  the  law  and 
the  ordinance  of  God.  The  law  of  God  has 
appointed  priesthood  on  earth  solely  to  the 
nation  of  Israel.  In  Israel  it  belongs  to  the 
tribe  of  Levi  and  the  house  of  Aaron.  The 
only  people  who  have  any  national  claim  to 
priesthood  at  this  hour  are  the  Jewish  people. 
In  assuming  the  vocation  of  priesthood  on 
earth  the  Romish  Church  sets  aside  the  ordi- 
nance of  God  and  robs  the  Jew  of  his  pre- 
eminent right. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  a  Jew.  He  was 
not  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  He  was  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah.  Priesthood  on  earth  does  not  be- 
long to  the  tribe  of  Judah.  It  belongs  ex- 
clusively to  the  tribe  of  Levi.  Our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  a  Jew  had  no  right  to  the  office  of 
priesthood  on  earth.  If  He  were  on  earth  to- 
day He  would  have  no  right  to  be  a  priest.  In 
all  reverence  it  may  be  said  He  could  not  be 
so,  even  if  He  wished  it.  The  law  is  against 
it.    Wherefore  it  is  written : 


PRESENT    DAY    MIRACLES  253 

"If  Fie  [Tcsn?]  were  on  earth,  He  should 
not  be  a  priest,  seeing  that  there  are  priest3 
that  offer  gifts  according  to  the  law." — He- 
brews, 8 :4. 

When  the  Romanist  claims  to  be  a  priest  he 
takes  an  office  from  which  the  Son  of  God 
himself  would  be  debarred.  If  then  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  could  not  be  a  priest  on  earth  to- 
day, what  right  has  any  man  in  the  pro- 
fessed Church  of  Christ  to  call  himself  a 
priest?  To  do  so  is  to  be  presumptous  and 
guilty  of  blaspheming  the  holy  will  of  God. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  a  priest,  the  Great 
High  Priest,  but  His  priesthood  is  exercised 
only  in  Heaven ;  it  is  a  priesthood  not  after 
the  order  of  Aaron,  but  after  the  order  of 
Melchizedec.  The  order  of  Melchizcdec  ex- 
isted before  the  coming  in  of  the  law,  is  above 
the  law  and,  as  it  is  exercised  only  In  Heaven, 
not  for  Israel  as  Israel,  but  for  the  Church 
as  such,  it  cannot  violate  or  conflict  with  the 
law  of  priesthood  in  Israel.    Thus  it  is  written : 

"Whither  [that  is,  in  Lleaven]  the  fore- 
runner is  for  us  entered,  even  Jesus,  made  an 
high  priest  forever  after  the  order  of  Mel- 
chizedec."— Hebrews,  6 :20. 

It  is  true,  Peter  speaks  of  a  "holy  priest- 
hood" among  Christians,  but  it  is  a  spiritual 
priesthood  which  belongs,  not  to  one  set  of 
Chri^ti-^n".  but  tn  pII — priests  v/ho  are  to  offer 
up  spiritual  sacrifices  acceptable  to  God  by 
Jesus  Christ,  as  it  is  v^rritten: 


254  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES 

"Ye  also  as  lively  (living)  stones  are  buHt 
up  a  spiritual  house,  an  holy  priesthood,  to 
offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices,  acceptable  to  God 
by  Jesus  Christ."— I.  Peter,  2 :5. 

Or,  again: 

"And  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto 
God  and  His  Father." — Revelations,  1  :6. 

Priesthood !    Yes,  but  a  spiritual  priesthood. 

Priesthood !  Certainly,  but  a  priesthood  to 
which  the  humblest  Christian  belongs. 

According  to  the  Word  of  God  then,  Rome, 
in  setting  up  a  special  class  of  priests  and 
allowing  them  to  lord  it  over  the  Church,  has 
denied  the  common  priesthood  of  all  believers, 
minimized  the  exalted  and  special  priesthood 
of  Christ,  and  has  been  guilty  of  perverting  the 
right  words  of  the  Lord. 

Rome  is  the  continuation  of  Pagan  Rome 
under  the  name  of  Christ. 

Rome  is  Paganism  as  well  as  Judaism. 
She  has  taken  the  images  of  pagan  gods  and 
goddesses,  given  them  the  names  of  Christian 
saints,  and  set  them  up  in  her  church  buildings, 
and  there,  as  so  many  idols,  permits  them  to  be 
worshiped  by  the  ignorant  multitude. 

Before  these  images  men  and  women  bow 
the  knee  and  bring  their  votive  offerings  just 
as  the  pagan  sacrificed  and  worshiped  before 
his  gods. 

Rome  has  taken  the  feast  days  of  Paganism 
and  turned  them  into  the  feast  days  of  the 
church.    She  has  taken  the  wafer  or  cake  of 


PRESENT   DAY   MIRA.CLES  255 

Paganism  and  transformed  it  into  a  "holy" 
offering.  She  has  transformed  the  beautiful 
memorial  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper  into 
an  eucharistic  and  sacramental  service.  The 
priest  speaks  over  the  bread  certain  Latin 
phrases,  immediately  the  bread  becomes  the 
living  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  then 
the  priest  (with  his  back  turned  to  the  people 
and  the  mark  of  the  cross  upon  it  that  those 
who  observe  him  may  know  the  cross  has 
been  erected  again)  proceeds  to  offer  up  the 
Son  of  God,  and  put  Him  to  death  as  a  fresh 
sacrifice,  for  the  sins  of  men. 

But  what  says  the  Scripture  about  the  offer- 
ing of  Christ? 

It  says : 

"We  are  sanctified  through  the  offering  of 
the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for  all." — He- 
brews, 10:10. 

And  again: 

"By  one  offering  He  hath  perfected  forever 
them  that  are  sanctified." — Hebrews,  10:14. 

The  Word  of  God  says  one  offering  once 
for  all.  Rome  says  a  fresh  offering  of  Christ 
every  Sunday,  and  as  many  times  oftener  as 
the  worshiper  may  be  willing  to  pay  for  it. 

In  doing  all  this  Rome  not  only  perverts 
the  Word  of  God,  but,  in  the  language  of  Holy 
Scripture,  she  leads  her  deluded  followers  to 
"Crucify  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh, 
and  put  Him  to  an  open  shame." — He- 
brews, 6 :6. 


256  THE   SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

Rome  teaches  that  the  sinner  is  saved  by 
good  works  as  well  as  the  death  of  Christ. 
Scripture  says : 

"By  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith ;  and 
that  not  of  yourselves ;  it  is  the  gift  of  God : 

"Not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should 
boast."— Ephesians,  2 :9-10. 

Rome  teaches  that  at  death  the  soul  of  the 
Christian  enters  purgatory.  In  this  intermedi- 
ate state  it  is  subject  to  the  agency  of  purify- 
ing fires ;  here  the  "saint"  suffers  for  his  sins 
in  proportion  to  their  degree.  His  deliverance 
from  this  fiery  furnace  is  to  be  brought  about 
by  the  intercession  of  the  priest ;  the  inter- 
cessory prayers  of  the  priest  will  be  efficacious 
and  the  patient  liberated  in  proportion  as  a 
satisfactory  price  is  paid  into  the  church  treas- 
ury for  them. 

The  Word  of  God  teaches  that  the  moment 
a  Christian  dies  he  is  "Absent  from  the  body 
and  present  with  the  Lord."  \Mien  the  Chris- 
tian dies  he  does  not  enter  torment,  but  rest, 
as  it  is  written: 

"Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord 
from  henceforth :  yea.  saith  the  Spirit,  that 
they  may  rest  from  their  labors." — Revela- 
tion. 14:13.     > 

The  apostle  Paul  declares  that  at  death  the 
(believer  "departs  to  be  v.'ith  Christ" ;  and  he 
afTirnis  that  the  intermediate  state,  the  state 
between  death  and  resurrection,  is  an  advance 


PRESENT    DAY    MIRACLES  257 

over  the  present  life,  it  is  "far  better." — Philip- 
pians,  1 :23. 

To  the  thief  on  the  cross  the  Son  of  God 
said: 

"To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  para- 
dise."— Luke,  23:43.  (Paradise!  not  Purga- 
tory.) 

Rome  teaches  that  the  Christian  cannot  go 
directly  to  Christ  as  his  great  high  priest. 
He  must  have  some  one  who  will  intercede 
for  him  with  Christ ;  some  one  who  is  holy  and 
without  sin.  As  no  one  is  holy,  or  without 
sin  on  earth;  as  only  those  can  be  holy  and 
without  sin  who  are  finally  in  Heaven,  then 
Rome  turns  to  the  saints  who  have  been  ex- 
alted and  enthroned  in  Heaven  and  constitutes 
them  as  the  intercessors  with  Christ.  Among 
these  intermediate  intercessors  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  "ever  virgin,"  has  the  pre-eminent 
place.  Mary  is  enthroned  in  Heaven  by  the 
side  of  her  exalted  Son,  and  those  who  would 
gain  the  ear  of  the  Son  must  arouse  the  in- 
terest of  the  Mother. 

This  question  of  the  Virgin's  intercession 
was  settled  by  the  Lord  Jesus  before  He  died. 
He  settled  it  at  the  wedding  feast  in  Cana  of 
Galilee.  His  mother  came  to  Him  on  behalf 
of  the  people  gathered  there  and  told  her  Son 
that  they  had  no  wine.  His  answer  was  a 
tremendous  and  far-reaching  interrogatory. 
He  said: 


258  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

"Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee?" — 
John,  2 :4. 

He  did  not  repudiate  her  as  His  mother, 
nor  yet  as  a  woman,  He  testified  simply  that 
she  had  no  pre-eminent  place  of  intercession 
before  Him  in  matters  which  called  for  the 
exercise  of  divine  powers. 

He  himself  has  said: 

"No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by 
Me."— John,  14:6. 

And  lest  it  should  be  said,  "True,  no  man 
cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  Hiin,  yet  in 
order  to  come  to  Him  at  all  it  must  bi  by  the 
intercession  of  some  one  with  Christ  who  will 
make  Christ  willing  to  intercede  with  the 
Father,"  He  himself  settles  it  in  one  striking, 
undebatable  sentence : 

"Him  that  cometh  to  jME  I  will  in  no  wise 
cast  out." — John,  6 :47. 

Rome  has  falsified !  There  is  nothing  be- 
tween the  seeking  soul  or  the  worshiping 
saint  and  the  great  high  priest.  There  is  no 
need  of  any  saint,  no  matter  how  holy,  to 
introduce  us  to  the  "Alan  in  the  Glory,"  the 
"Advocate"  on  high.  On  the  contrary,  we 
are  exhorted  to  "Come  boldly  unto  a  throne  of 
grace,  that  we  may  obtain  mercy  and  find 
grace  to  help  in  time  of  need." — Hebrews, 
4:16.  We  are  told  that  we  may  have  "bold- 
ness to  enter  the  holiest  (Heaven)  by  the 
blood  of  Jesus.  By  a  new  and  living  way 
which  He  has  consecrated  (opened)    for  us, 


PRESENT   DAY   MIRACLES  259 

through  the  vail,  that  is  to  say,  his  flesh" : 
that  we  have  a  "high  priest  over  the  house  of 
God,"  and  are  therefore  exhorted  to  "draw 
near  in  full  assurance  of  faith." — Hebrews, 
10:  21-22. 

Rome  takes  away  the  Scripture  from  the 
people.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  says,  "Search 
the  Scriptures  *  *  *  they  are  they  which 
testify  of  me." — John,  5  :39. 

The  apostle  Paul  commends  the  Bereans  as 
being  more  noble  than  those  at  Thessalonica, 
because  they  "searched  the  Scriptures  daily." 
—Acts,  17:11. 

Rome  declares  that  the  Church  is  founded 
upon  Peter  as  the  rock.  Our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  declares  that  He  himself  (as  the 
deathless  Son  of  the  living  God  and,  there- 
fore, the  Son  who  would  triumph  over  death, 
rise  from  the  grave,  and  become  immortal) 
would  be  the  abiding  foundation  on  which  the 
souls  of  men  might  build.  Paul  says,  "That 
Rock  was  Christ." — I.  Corinthians,  10:4. 
Peter  testifies  that  Christ  is  the  Rock.  "A 
rock  of  offence,  even  to  them  which  stumble 
at  the  word." — L  Peter,  2:8.  Rock  in  Scrip- 
ture is  the  symbol,  not  of  man,  but  God,  as 
it  is  written,  "My  soul  waiteth  upon  God  *  *  * 
he  only  is  my  rock  and  my  salvation." — 
Psalms,  62:1-2. 

Rome  teaches  that  Christ  gave  to  Peter  the 
keys  of  the  Church.  It  is  not  true.  He  gave 
him  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.    "I 


260  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  Kingdom  of 
heaven :  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on 
earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven;  and  whatso- 
ever thou  shalt  loose  on  earth,  shall  be  loosed 
in  Heaven." — Matthew,  16:19. 

The  kingdom  of  Heaven  and  the  Church 
are  not  the  same  thing. 

All  who  are  in  the  Church  are  in  the  king- 
dom of  Heaven. 

All  who  are  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  are 
not,  necessarily,  in  the  Church. 

The  Church  is  the  BODY  of  Christ. 

The  kingdom  of  Heaven,  in  this  age,  is  the 
outward  profession  of  Christ. 

The  Church  has  in  it  only  those  who  have 
been  made  partakers  of  the  divine  nature  and 
are  indwelt  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  kingdom  of  Heaven  has  in  it  both  good 
and  bad;  those,  of  course,  who  are  regener- 
ated, being  in  the  Church,  and  those  who 
are  not  regenerated,  being  simply  professed 
members  of  the  Church. 

The  Church  is  not  the  kingdom  of  Heaven, 
but  the  body  of  Christ  in  the  kingdom. 

There  are  no  keys  to  the  Church. 

The  keys  are  only  for  the  kingdom. 

The  keys  of  the  kingdom  were  two  in  num- 
ber. Those  keys  were,  The  Gospel  and  Bap- 
tism, 

Peter  used  them  on  two  occasions,  and  two 
only :  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  and  at  the  house 
of  Cornelius.    At  Pentecost  he  opened  the 


PRESENT   DAY   MIRACLES  261 

kingdom  to  the  Jews;  at  the  house  of  Cor- 
nelius to  the  Gentiles. 

The  authority  to  bind  and  loose  was  not 
given  to  Peter  exclusively.  It  was  after- 
ward given  to  all  the  disciples  as  representing 
in  principle  the  whole  Church.  It  was  not 
given  in  this  fashion  till  after  He  had  risen 
from  the  dead  and  communicated  to  them  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  for,  the  Church  did  not  come 
info  existence  until  that  definite  moment. 

This  is  what  He  says  to  the  Church  antici- 
patively  through  the  disciples  : 

"Whosoever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  re- 
mitted unto  them ;  and  whosoever  sins  ye  re- 
tain, they  are  retained." — John,  20:23. 

He  is  making  the  Church  the  depositary  of 
doctrine  and  authorizing  her  through  her  min- 
istry, whether  in  pulpit  or  pew,  to  announce, 
on  the  one  hand,  to  all  who  should  believe 
the  testimony  concerning  Him,  the  loosing 
of  their  sins,  and  on  the  other,  the  bind- 
ing or  the  damnation  of  sin  to  all  who 
should  reject  their  testimony;  for  He  had 
said,  "He  that  receiveth  you,  receiveth  Me." — 
Matthew,  10:40.  And,  consequently,  those 
who  should  reject  the  messengers  of  Christ 
would  be  counted  as  rejecting  Him.  In  other 
words,  He  is  announcing  to  the  Church  that 
He  authorizes  her  to  proclaim  forgiveness  of 
sins  in  His  name  and  sealed  and  assured  con- 
demnation to  those  who  reject  Him. 

In  such  binding  and  loosing  all  Christian?, 


262  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE    TIMES 

in  measure,  participate.  From  this  it  is  evi- 
dent that  Peter's  keys  went  no  farther  than 
opening  the  profession  of  Christ  in  this  stage 
to  Jew  and  Gentile.  His  power  to  lose  and 
bind  was  only  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the 
apostles. 

Rome  exalts  Peter  into  primacy  as  bishop 
of  Rome.    The  Son  of  God  gives  no  ground 

for  such  primacy. 

ITiere  is  not  a  single  line  in  Scripture  to 
indicate  that  he  ever  was  inside  the  city  of 
Rome. 

The  only  apostle  who  is  recorded  in  Scrip- 
ture as  having  lived  in  Rome  is  the  apostle 
Paul. 

Peter  never  wrote  a  letter  to  the  church  at 
Rome. 

Paul  wrote  the  epistle  to  the  Romans.  Paul 
is  the  only  apostle  who  ever  did  write  a  letter 
to  the  church  at  Rome. 

Peter  never  wrote  a  letter  to  any  church.  He 
wrote  two  letters,  but  these  were  not  to  local 
assemblies.  He  wrote  them  as  general  let- 
ters to  Hebrew  Christians  wherever  "scat- 
tered." 

Paul  wrote  fourteen  epistles.  Nine  of  these 
letters  were  to  the  churches. 

To  Paul  nnd  not  to  Peter  was  given  the 
revelation  from  heaven  that  the  church  is  the 
body  of  Christ.    To  Paul  alone  was  given  the 


PRESENT   DAY    MIRACLES  263 

revelation  concerning  the  mystery  of  the 
church. 

Peter  was  not  the  apostle  of  the  church  at 
all.  Peter  was  the  apostle  of  the  Circum- 
cision. 

Paul  was  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles ;  and 
he  tells  us  why:  "That  I  should  preach  among 
the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ." 
Ephesians,  3 :8 ;  that  he  might  make  known 
unto  them  "that  the  Gentiles  should  be  fellow 
heirs,  and  of  the  same  body." — Ephesians,  3  :6. 
He  was  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  that  he 
might  bring  to  them  the  knowledge  of  the 
church,  this  great  secret  that  had  been  hid- 
den from  the  ages.  It  is  Paul,  then,  and  not 
Peter  who  has  to  do  with  the  church.  Not  to 
Peter,  but  to  Paul  alone  was  given,  "the  care 
of  all  the  churches. "II.  Corinthians.  11:28. 

If  the  care  of  all  the  churches  exalts  the 
care-taker  into  the  place  of  the  supreme  bishop 
or  overseer  of  the  church  then  Paul,  indeed, 
and  not  Peter,  was  the  supreme  bishop  of 
the  church. 

Rome  claims  temporal  sovereignty.  Our 
Lord  declares  that  his  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world ;  his  actual  kingdom  has  not  yet  been 
set  up. 

Rome  makes  the  Pope  the  vicar  of  Christ 
on  earth.  Or.r  Lord  Jesus  Christ  announces 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  vicar,  his  vice- 
gerent. 

Pie  says : 


264  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

"The  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost, 
whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my  name." 
—John,  14:26. 

The  claim  of  Rome  and  the  office  of  the 
Pope  are  the  seals  of  blasphemy  against  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

On  great  feast  days  the  Pope  is  carried  into 
St.  Peter's  on  the  shoulders  of  men,  placed 
on  the  high  altar  of  that  wonderful  temple,  and 
there,  practically,  worshiped  as  "The  Holy 
Father." 

In  this  scene  there  is  a  foreshadowing  of 
that  moment  of  which  Paul  speaks,  when  Anti- 
christ, the  "man  of  sin,"  shall  sit,  "in  the 
temple  of  God,  shewing  himself  that  he  is 
God." — n.  Thessalonians,  2 :4. 

From  all  this  it  must  be  evident  that  Rome 
is  "apostate"  Christianity. 

She  is  an  apostate  church.  She  is  a  false 
church  of  Christ  and,  therefore,  a  false  Christ. 

In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  such  a  sys- 
tem cannot  be  owned  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
cannot  exercise  the  power  of  Christ. 

The  miracles,  therefore,  professedly  per- 
formed by  Rome  are  not  the  miracles  of 
Christ. 

Let  Emmanuelism  be  tested  by  the  word  of 
God. 

The  healings  wrought  by  it  are  not  of  Christ. 

They  are  not,  because, 

1.  Emmanuelism  claims  that  its  cures  arc 
produced   by  the   subject   himself   exercising 


PRESENT    DAY    MIRACLES  265 

his  own  power  of  mind ;  or,  by  yielding  to  the 
natural  power  of  mind  in  another. 

2.  Because  by  its  own  text  book,  "Religion 
and  Medicine,"  Emmanuelism  confesses  that 
Jesus  Christ,  while  to  a  certain  degree  an  ex- 
pert in  psycho-therapy;  while  able  to  operate 
through,  and  upon,  the  sub-conscious  mind ; 
while  pure  and  good,  and  all  that,  was  limited. 
He  was  limited  in  his  intelligence.  He  believed 
in  demons,  in  evil  siprits,  in  demoniacal  pos- 
sessions and  was,  largely,  bound  by  the  ignor- 
ance and  the  superstition  of  the  times.  Fur- 
thermore, Emmanuelism  teaches,  the  disciples 
of  Christ  were  unlettered,  uneducated  men, 
under  the  impressions  of  the  age  in  which 
they  lived.  The  reports  which  they  give  of 
the  teachings  and  the  doings  of  Christ  are 
colored  by  their  superstition,  their  ignorance, 
and  their  exaggerated  partisanship  as  his  fol- 
lowers. Their  testimony  cannot  be  accepted 
as  final.  Only  those  portions  can  really  be 
tolerated  which  have  received  the  recognition 
of  modern  scholarship. 

In  short,  Emmanuelism  teaches  that  Christ 
was  limited,  and  his  disciples  unreliable  as 
biographers. 

A  limited  Christ  and  an  unreliable  New 
Testament ! 

There  you  have  Emmanuelism  with  the  vail 
off. 

Will  any  one  pretend  that  a  religion,  or  a 
work,  which  holds  such  an  attitude  to  Christ, 


266  THE    SIGNS   OK    IHE    TIMES 

is  honored  by  his  Spirit  and  his  power?  Nay! 
though  it  stood  under  the  dome  of  the  richest 
cathedral  ever  built,  clothed  with  sanctity  and, 
in  the  name  of  Christ,  doing  deeds  that  were 
very  miracles,  even  the  miracle  of  the  dead 
raised  to  life  again,  it  would  not  be  the  work 
of  Christ,  nor  of  the  true  ministers  of  Christ. 

All  that  has  been  said  of  Romanism  and 
Emmanuelism  is  to  be  said  with  a  millionfold 
greater  emphasis  of  Christian  Science. 

Christian  Science  comes  in  the  name  of 
Christ  and  denies  everything  for  which  Christ 
stands. 

It  denies  that  he  was  actually  born  of  a 
virgin.  The  virgin  did  not  give  birth  to  a 
body,  she  gave  birth  simply  to  an  idea. 

It  denies  that  Christ  cast  out  demons,  healed 
the  sick,  or  raised  the  dead. 

He  never  raised  Lazarus  from  the  dead. 
Lazarus  never  was  dead.  He  only  thought 
GO.  Jesus  went  to  the  grave  to  arouse  him 
out  of  his  false  and  foolish  idea  that  he  was 
dead.  The  whole  story  of  his  resurrection 
is  the  story  of  a  monumental  deception.  All 
that  concourse  at  the  grave,  the  theatrical  roll- 
ing away  of  the  stone,  and  the  loud  cry  to 
Lazarus  to  come  forth,  were  nothing  better 
than  mere  pretence.  There  was  no  death  and 
there  was  no  actual  resurrection.  So  far  as 
Christian  Science  treats  the  matter,  the  Son 
of  God  acted  no  better  than  an  Eastern  fakir 


PRESENT    DAY    MIRACLES  267 

before  the  eyes  of  a  befooled  and  wondering 
crowd. 

Christian  Science  denies  that  the  blood  of 
Christ  was  of  any  more  avail  when  shed  on 
the  cross  than  when  flowing  through  his  veins 
in  daily  life. 

Christian  Science  denies  that  Jesus  shed 
his  blood  at  all. 

Christian  Science  denies  that  Jesus  Christ 
died.  All  the  time  the  people  thought  he  was 
dead  he  was  alive  and  hiding  in  the  tomb. 
Jesus  and  Christ  are  distinct.  Jesus  was  the 
apparent  material  man.  Christ  was,  and  is, 
the  eternal  principle  of  truth.  At  the  so- 
called  ascension,  Jesus  disappeared  forever 
and  Christ  ascended.  Christ  did  not  ascend 
as  a  person  to  heaven,  Christ  is  nothing  more 
than  a  spiritual  principle.  There  is  no  ac- 
tual heaven.  Heaven  is  a  condition  of  the 
mind,  and  when  the  principle  of  truth  has  as- 
cended into  the  place  of  dominion  over  the 
individual,  that  is  the  ascension  to  heaven. 
Jesus  does  not  exist.  He  never  has  existed, 
except  in  the  imagination  of  men. 

Christian  Science  denies  the  Second  Com- 
ing of  Christ  as  a  personal  fact.  Christian 
Science  claims  that  the  discovery  made  by 
Mrs.  Eddy  was,  and  is,  the  only  Second  Com- 
ing ;  it  was  the  second  coming  of  truth.  Chris- 
tian Science  denies  judgment  to  come,  future 
punishment,  and  hell  as  the  final  abode  of 
the  lost.     No  one  is  lost.     No  one  needs  a 


268  tHE  SIGNS  OF  tHE  TIMiE^ 

saviour;  for  there  is  no  sin.  No  matter  how 
sinful  and  wicked  men  may  appear,  the  mo- 
ment they  recognize  that  sin  does  not  exist, 
that  they  have  never  sinned  and  never  can, 
they  are  free,  pure  and  holy;  free,  pure,  and 
holy  as  they  always  have  been,  but,  this  time, 
to  their  own  awakened  and  happy  conscious- 
ness of  it. 

Christian  Science  denies  that  the  Bible  is 
the  infallible  Word  of  God.  It  says  that  it  is 
fallible,  full  of  errors,  myths  and  fables.  The 
only  book  that  is  absolutely  free  from  error, 
that  never  makes  a  mistake,  and  is  perfect 
in  every  line,  is  the  book  written  by  Mrs. 
Eddy  herself. 

Christian  Science  is  a  crime! 

It  is  a  crime  against  morality.  It  denies 
the  existence  of  sin. 

It  is  a  crime  against  society.  It  exalts  wife- 
hood above  motherhood,  and  advocates  di- 
vorce. It  advocates  divorce  in  the  nature  of 
the  case.  It  does  this  because  the  author  of 
this  religion — Mrs.  Eddy — has  herself  been 
married  and  divorced.  The  stream  cannot 
rise  higher  than  the  fountain. 

Christian  Science  does  not  believe  in  mar- 
riage as  the  highest  and  best  thing;  if  pushed 
to  the  ultimate  of  its  principles  it  would  abol- 
ish marriage  altogether  and  open  the  sluice 
gate  of  unspeakable  disaster  to  society. 

Christian  Science  is  a  crime  against  the 
health  of  a  community.    It  denies  the  fact  of 


PRESENT  DAY   MIRACLES  269 

sickness,    <.nd   declares    that   doctors    should, 
with  all  medical  remedies,  be  abolished. 

It  is  a  crime  against  intellect.  It  denies 
the  creation  and  the  existence  of  matter.  All 
things  that  can  be  seen,  touched,  heard,  or  felt, 
are  non-existent — they  exist  only  in  the  im- 
agination. 

In  short,  Christian  Science  is  a  system 
which  denies  science,  is  itself  a  travesty  on 
science,  a  mockery  of  logic,  and  a  vender  of 
words  without  knowledge. 

Christian  Science  is  a  guilty  thing,  a  de- 
ceiver and  an  Antichrist. 

Will  any  one  with  a  sane  or  an  honest  mind 
claim  that  a  system  which  exalts  a  wife  to 
live  above  marriage;  which  suggests  that 
children  may  be  brought  into  the  world  solely 
by  mental  operation;  denies  sin,  sickness  and 
death;  denies  the  existence  of  matter,  anni- 
hilates Jesus,  destroys  the  personality  of 
Christ,  and  rejects  the  Bible  as  a  mass  of  old 
wives'  fables,  setting  its  own  book  as  an  au- 
thority above  it ;  will  any  one,  looking  into  it 
and  seeing  it  as  it  is,  have  the  hardihood  to  say 
that  the  healings  and  cures  and  wonders 
wrought  by  such  a  system,  have  been  wrought 
by  Christ  and  his  Spirit? 
It  is  impossible! 

Neither  Christ  nor  his  Spirit  has  any  re- 
lation to  such  a  system.  There  can  be  no 
relation  between  Christ  Jesus  and  the  system 


270  THE   SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

which  denies  him  and  bankrupts  all  final  faith 

in  him. 

None  of  the  present-day  miracles,  there- 
fore, wrought  by  Romanism,  Emmanuelism 
and  Christian  Science,  are  of  the  Spirit  and 
power  of  Christ. 

By  whom  then,  or  by  what  power  have  these 
miracles  been  wrought?  I  answer,  there  is  a 
personage  in  the  universe  who  has  the  power 
to  produce  all  these  things. 

From  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis  to  the 
close  of  the  Bible,  he  is  recorded  there  as 
the  tireless  adversary  of  God  and  man.  So 
great  is  his  dignity  that  even  the  archangel 
Michael  could  not  bring  a  railing  accusation 
against  him.  He  is  shown  to  be  as  versatile 
as  powerful.  He  reveals  himself,  now  as  a 
serpent  and  then,  as  an  angel  of  light.  He 
is  called  the  prince  of  the  powers  of  the  air. 
Scripture  testifies  that  he  can,  at  times,  send 
the  winds,  the  tempest  and  the  lightnings.  He 
has  the  power  of  disease.  He  caused  Job 
to  be  smitten  from  head  to  foot  with  a  loath- 
some sickness.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  says 
that  he  bound  a  certain  woman  with  an  in- 
firmity for  eighteen  years.  Scripture  assures 
us  that  he  has  the  power  of  death. 

This  great  personage  is  the  Devil  and 
Satan. 

I  am  not  addressing,  and  I  have  no  contro- 
versy with,  those  who  do  not  believe  the 
Bible.    With  that  educated  and  cultured  class 


PRESENT    DAY    MIRACLES  271 

of  ignorance  which  has  no  more  knowledge 
of  the  Bible  than  an  inert  stone  has  of  a 
quivering  star  or  a  burning  sun ;  with  that 
self-satisfied  culture  which  turns  away  from 
the  Bible  with  the  same  indifference  that  a 
blind  man  would  turn  away  from  a  master- 
piece of  Michael  Angelo,  I  have  neither  in- 
clination nor  time  to  waste  words.  I  am  writ- 
ing for  those  who  accept  the  Bible  as  the  in- 
fallible Word  of  God.  To  such  I  say:  You 
are  now  face  to  face  with  the  fact  to  which  the 
Bible  gives  unfaltering  and  unmistakable  tes- 
timony, the  fact  of  a  person  who  has  power 
over  the  atmosphere ;  who  may  cloud  it  or 
clear  it;  who  can,  when  he  is  permitted,  make 
it  a  channel  of  disease  and  destruction ;  who 
has  power  over  the  body  and  over  the  mind ; 
who  can  use  the  minds  of  men  to  suit  his  own 
will,  fooling  them,  blinding  them,  and  leading 
them  captive  with  the  deception  that  they 
are  acting  in  their  own  proper  right  and 
freedom. 

Here  is  a  power  that  can  inflict  disease 
or  withhold  it.  A  power  that  can  kill  or  keep 
back,  to  a  degree,  the  shaft  of  death.  Here 
is  a  being  who  seems  like  a  God ;  a  being 
who,  indeed,  in  Scripture,  is  called  the  "God 
of  this  World."  Here  is  a  personage  who 
could  produce  the  psychological  movements  of 
the  hour,  and  who  could,  if  he  so  willed,  bring 
about  through  his  agents,  the  so-called  cures 
or  miracles.     And  because  these  systems  at 


272  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

bottom  are  a  denial  of  Christ,  are  in  spirit 
and  sum  antichrist,  and  Antichrist  is  the  final 
and  climacteric  manifestation  of  the  Devil, 
then  it  may  be  said,  with  unhesitating  con- 
fidence, that  these  cures  and  wonders  wrought 
by  these  specialized  systems,  are  wrought  by 
none  other  than  the  Devil  himself. 

The  Son  of  God  teaches  plainly  that  these 
wonders  will  be  increasingly  a  peril  to  the 
world.  They  will  deceive  those  who  are  not 
the  elect  of  God.  They  would  deceive  even 
the  very  elect  of  God  if  it  were  not  for  his 
holding  power.  They  have  deceived  multi- 
tudes. They  are  deceiving  them  to-day.  Thou- 
sands of  a  certain  class  in  Romanism,  another 
and  more  mental  class  in  Emmanuelism,  and 
still  another  class  in  Christian  Science  who 
are  not  ignorant  and  uneducated,  but  who  are 
more  sentimental  and  more  sensuous  than  in- 
tellectual, a  vast  number  of  ailing  men  and 
women,  and  a  large  number  who  are  governed 
purely  by  imagination,  will  be  carried  away 
and,  if  they  abide  under  the  delusions,  will 
prove  that  they  are  not  the  elect  of  God. 

More  and  more  Romanism  will  appeal  to 
the  ecclesiastical  side  of  the  human  mind.  Em- 
manuelism will  appeal  to  the  psychological 
side.  More  and  more  Christian  Science  will 
appeal  to  the  female  area  of  mind  and  to 
the  female  characteristic  of  mind  in  some 
classes  of  men.  And  because  the  peril  will 
increase  and  become  intense,  the  Son  of  God 


PRESENT   DAY   MIRACLES  273 

from  his  seat  on  the  brow  of  OHvet  warn- 
ingly  says : 

"Behold,  I  have  told  you  before." 

These  deceiving  wonders  performed  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  as  they  increase  in  emphasis, 
bear  witness  that  the  Coming  of  the  Lord 
draweth  nigh. 

He  himself  has  said  so. 

He  has  said  that  when  all  these  things  be- 
gin to  come  to  pass,  we,  as  believers,  may 
look  up  and  know  that  our  redemption  draweth 
nigh ;  that  the  Lord  is  even  at  the  door. 

It  is  a  witness  that  this  age,  like  the  river 
that  at  last  reaches  the  brink  of  the  cataract, 
is  about  to  sweep  over  and  plunge  to  its  fall. 

These  very  signs  say  to  us  in  the  loudest 
possible  speech, 

THE  LORD  IS  COMING. 

The  Coming  of  the  Lord  means  the  call- 
ing up  into  glory  of  all  who  own  him  as 
Saviour  and  Lord. 

It  means,  after  that,  the  immediate  and 
eternal  damnation  of  all  those  who  have  been 
deceived  and  hoodwinked  by  these  false  sys- 
tems and  who  have  not  recovered  themselves 
from  the  snare  of  the  Devil. 

Wherefore  I  charge  you  and  beseech  you, 
you  who  read  these  lines,  if  you  have  in  any 
way  been  entangled  in  these  deceptions,  to 
flee  out  of  them  and  take  wholesome  and  per- 
fect shelter  under  the  blood  of  the  atoning 
Lamb  of  God;  cast  yourself  in  absolute  de- 


274  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

pendence  upon  the  grace,  the  mercy,  and  the 
keeping  power  of  a  covenant  God,  an  un- 
failing Christ,  and  an  abiding  Holy  Spirit. 
Make  the  risen  and  glorified  Son  of  God  your 
high  tower,  your  fortress,  and  your  sure  de- 
fence. 

His  solemn  words  of  warning  for  all  ears 
are  these: 

"For  there  shall  arise  false  Christs,  and 
false  prophets,  and  shall  show  great  signs  and 
wonders ;  insomuch  that,  if  it  were  possible, 
thcv  shall   deceive  the  very  elect. 

"BEHOLD,  I  HAVE  TOLD  YOU  BE- 
FORE." 


SOCIALISM 


There  is  no  stint  or  poverty  in  nature.  Pro- 
vision seems  to  have  been  made  for  all.  The 
birds  of  the  air,  the  beasts  of  the  field,  the  fish 
of  the  sea,  and  the  most  infinitesimal  degree 
of  animal  and  insect  life  appear  to  find  ample 
sustenance  and  sufficient  area  for  the  exercise 
or  enjoyment  of  their  functions.  Logically,  it 
should  be  expected  that  man,  the  head  of  crea- 
tion in  this  world,  would  find,  individually,  the 
same  plethora  in  respect  to  himself.  Looking 
at  the  world  as  a  dwelling  place  for  man,  there 
is  every  reason  to  expect  that  one  would  be 
able  to  enjoy  as  much  of  the  wealth  and 
bounty  of  the  earth  as  another.  There  is 
room  enough  for  every  one  to  have  a  home 
and  large  domain.  There  is  wood  in  the  for- 
ests, coal  in  the  mines,  gold,  silver  and  tin,  in 
the  earth's  veins,  brass  that  may  be  dug  from 
the  hills.  The  lakes  and  rivers  teem  with  fish, 
and  the  sea  sends  its  bromides  with  health 
salutations  to  all.  The  wheat  and  corn,  fruit 
and  vegetables,  are  ready  to  respond  with  the 
same  largess  to  the  effort  of  each ;  flowers 
bloom  in  their  beauty  till  even  the  desert  is 
made  glad.  The  sky  is  over  all  with  the  same 
blue  by  day,  and  the  same  shining  stars  by 
night.     The  sun,  the  rain  and  the  dew,  ar^ 


276  tHE  SIGNS   OF  tHE  TIMES 

continually  at  work,  with  no  respect  to  per- 
sons. There  is  air  enough  for  all  to  breathe. 
In  short,  provision  and  equipment  enough  for 
each  individual  to  stand  on  an  equality  of 
possession  and  hopefulness  with  the  other. 

This  might  well  be  expected  from  the  ful- 
ness of  nature. 

It  requires  only  the  most  casual  observation 
to  see  that  such  is  not  the  case — that  the  re- 
verse is  true. 

Practically,  to-day,  the  world  is,  as  it  has  al- 
ways been,  in  the  hands  of  the  few.  It  is  the 
few  who  own  the  land  and  its  resources.  The 
few  who  control  the  product  of  mother  earth, 
and  benefit  of  the  value  of  human  labor.  The 
few,  relatively  speaking,  are  rich,  and  may 
live  as  kings  live,  without  the  care  of  to-mor- 
row's expense,  without  fear  of  yesterday's 
debt.  A  multitude  live  without  actual  pov- 
icrty,  but  within  lines  that  are  circumscribed, 
and  where  it  is  necessary,  always,  to  keep  the 
sentinel  of  economy  on  the  walls  and  submit 
to  the  law  of  limitation  even  for  legitimate 
demands.  There  is  the  vaster  multitude  who 
eke  out  existence.  They  are  the  toilers,  the 
hard  workers  in  the  chain  gang  of  labor,  as 
much  under  the  whiplash  of  daily  service  as 
a  slave  beneath  the  blows  of  a  master.  Their 
life  consists  in  realizing  the  things  they  can- 
not have.  They  live  close  to  the  earth,  are 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,  have 
little  chance  to  see  the  sky,  because  of  the 


sdtiALisKi  If') 

close  attention  they  must  pay  to  the  ground 
on  which  they  walk,  and,  in  the  final  analysis, 
are  little  better  than  machines  wound  up  by 
the  inexorable  hand  of  necessity,  set  going  for 
a  certain  number  of  minutes  each  day,  and 
repeating  the  movement  till  something  in  the 
machinery  gives  way,  and  they  are  thrown 
aside  into  the  dump  heap  of  the  grave  as  mere 
scrap  material  whose  only  value  may  be  to  fer- 
tilize the  dust  of  which  they  soon  become  a 
part. 

A  spirit  of  protest  is  rising  against  this  con- 
dition. 

Men  are  asking  themselves  persistent  ques- 
tions: Is  there  such  a  thing  as  the  privilege 
of  birth?  Have  some  men  a  better  right  to 
the  earth's  endowments  than  others?  Is  it  of 
the  law  and  nature  of  things  that  multitudes 
of  human  beings  should  be  no  better  than 
dumb  driven  cattle,  and  not  so  well  cared  for, 
sufjfering  a  misery  that  brutes  do  not  know  ? 

This  spirit  has  been  organized  in  flesh  and 
blood,  and  is  making  itself  materially  felt  in 
every  quarter  of  the  earth.  It  is  an  organized 
revolt  of  the  mass  against  the  domination  of 
the  class.  It  is  an  organized  accusation  against 
the  injustice  of  poverty  and  the  narrowness  of 
life.  It  is  a  revolt  and  an  equipped  deter- 
mination to  break  down  and  completely  over- 
throw the  partitions  erected  by  man  in  the 
domain  of  nature. 

This  protest  calls  itself — Socialism. 


27S  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

Socialism  finds  large  encouragement  from 
the  past.  Within  a  hundred  years  men  have 
broken  away  from  the  restraints  of  an  artificial 
society.  Privilege  of  birth  has  been  denied 
and  destroyed  in  the  blood  of  those  who 
claimed  it.  The  divine  right  of  kings  has  been 
rejected  and  the  absolute  monarch  made  to 
know  his  limit.  The  wage  earner  has  increased 
his  wage  and  minimized  his  hours  of  toil.  The 
laborer  has  made  himself  a  political  quantity 
to  be  reckoned  with.  Socialism  has  become  a 
force.  It  is  multiplying  with  great  rapidity. 
Its  voice  has  grown  loud  enough  to  be  heard 
in  parliaments  and  halls  of  legislation.  Armies 
and  navies  are  infected  by  it.  The  brother- 
hood of  man  has  become  a  regnant  idea.  The 
barriers  of  nationality  are  broken  down  by  it. 
The  distinction  of  flags  is  repudiated  and  one 
flag  alone,  the  red  flag  (the  symbol  of  the 
common  blood  of  man)  is  upheld  and  owned 
as  the  flag  of  socialism. 

The  concepts  and  methods  of  socialism  arc 
varied.  The  aim  is  one.  That  aim  is  to  de- 
stroy the  present  order  of  society  and  erect 
upon  its  ruins  a  new,  in  which  it  shall  be  a  law 
that  a  man  is  a  man,  and  that  each  man  has 
all  the  right  of  the  other  man. 

Whatever  the  divergent  lines  along  which 
they  move,  the  outcome  of  socialism  is  the 
same.  The  eventuation  is  identical — it  is  the 
exaltation  of  the  community.  In  spite  of  the 
tallying  cry  of  individualism,  the  ultimate  is 


SOCIALISM  279 

communism.  There  is  and  must  be  the  com- 
mon property,  the  common  fund,  and  the  gen- 
eral distribution.  Sooner  or  later  the  organ- 
ized effort  of  socialism  must  lead  to  a  tyranny 
— either  the  tyranny  of  the  community,  or  the 
individual — who,  perforce,  must  control  the 
community. 

The  varied  propositions  which  grow  out  of 
the  socialistic  principle  are  both  logical  and 
suggestive. 

By  some  it  is  proposed  to  abolish  marriage. 
The  woman  has  the  same  right  of  her  body 
as  the  man.  Man  and  woman  shall  be  equally 
free.  Love  is  not  to  be  bound  by  any  law 
save  that  of  its  own.  Where  love  wishes  to 
go  it  shall  be  free  to  go.  As  there  is  no  limit 
in  the  exercise  of  love  among  the  brute  crea- 
tion, there  should  be  none  among  men  and 
women.  A  woman  may  have  as  many  hus- 
bands, and  a  man  as  many  wives,  as  they  shall 
elect.  Love  is  to  be  a  communal  quantity  as 
well  as  the  product  of  the  fields.  Children 
shall  not  belonrj  to  any  special  man  nor  v/oman. 
The  state  is  to  be  the  father  and  mother  of 
the  child.  The  child  is  to  own  and  recognize 
the  state  as  such.  The  children  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  the  common  produce  of  the  com- 
munity, and  the  community  is  to  obtain  from 
them  the  reciprocal  benefit  of  the  protection 
it  gives — in  the  increased  asset  of  labor. 

The  theory  of  socialism  is  that  each  shall 
help  the  other ;  that  aggregate  toil  means  in- 


280  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

dividual  comfort.  It  is  a  community,  a  part- 
nershio,  in  which  each  one  contributes  to,  and 
receives  from,  the  other,  in  the  general  sum. 
It  is  to  be  a  unity  of  life  powers  working  for 
the  common  good,  instead  of  each  individual 
going  off  at  a  tangent  and  coming  together 
only  that  they  may  grapple  with  and  destroy 
one  another — a  destruction  that  is  the  legiti- 
mate corrolary  of  selfishness — the  rule  of  the 
inequality  of  man. 

Socialism  in  its  attempt  to  build  a  new  so- 
ciety fails  to  recognize  that  human  life  is  in- 
dividualized by  its  inc(]uality.  One  mountain 
is  known  from  another  because  it  is  higher  or 
lower,  or  has  some  special  deposit  of  rock  or 
strata.  One  country  is  characterized  by  rivers, 
another  by  lakes,  another  by  forests,  and  still 
another  by  deserts.  The  product  of  one  land 
is  dififerent  from  another.  Examination  of 
the  earth's  construction  will  show  inequalities ; 
and  the  very  unity  of  the  earth  depends  upon 
the  fact  that  some  mountains  are  higher  than 
others,  some  rivers  deeper,  and  some  lands 
rich  in  the  precious  metals  which  others  do  not 
have.  The  same  inequality  is  to  be  found  in 
human  life.  Its  individuality  is  its  inequality, 
its  inequality  is  its  individuality.  Some  men 
have  one  endowment,  some  another.  Some 
men  have  capacity  to  work  individually,  some 
men  have  power  to  make  the  multitude  work, 
using  them  in  their  several  abilities  like  so  manj^ 
hands  and  feet  for  their  own  individuality. 


SOCIALISM  28 1 

In  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  sooner  oi 
later,  socialism  must  meet  this  ordained  and 
constitutional  inequality  in  individual  life. 
Sooner  or  later,  there  must  arise  in  a  socialistic 
community  the  extra  quality  and  characteristic 
of  a  few  or  one ;  and  this  quality  or  character- 
istic becoming  dominant  whether  in  one  direc- 
tion or  another,  and,  given  time  for  develop- 
ment, must  be  the  destruction  of  the  actual 
basis  on  which  socialism  seeks  to  build. 

Socialism  fails  to  recognize  the  nature  in 
man.  That  nature  manifests  itself  in  self-ex- 
altation, self-interest;  and  where  self-interest 
is  at  work,  there  must  be,  sooner  or  later,  the 
clash  of  paramount  claim.  This  clash  can 
be  hindered  only  by  a  combined  or  individual 
force,  and  thus,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  the 
communal  interest  becomes  such  only  in  name ; 
it  is  an  interest  in  the  hands  of  the  few  or 
the  one,  and  is  distributed  according  to  the 
will  of  the  final  determining  power.  Socialism 
carries  in  itself  the  seeds  of  its  own  destruc- 
tion. It  is  conceived  in  revolt  and  born  in 
lawlessness,  and  lawlessness  must  be  its  final 
offspring.  The  lawlessness  of  socialism  will 
exercise  itself  within  certain  limits  and  then, 
at  last,  in  obedience  to  its  own  inherency,  must 
revolt  against  final  limitation. 

Socialism  may  be  described  under  various 
titles.  There  is  a  scientific  and  a  radical  so- 
cialism.    There  is  yet  another  which  is  the 


282  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

latest  and  is  thoroughly  startling — it  is  known 
as  Christian  Socialism. 

This  new  cult  of  socialism  might  well  be 
called  "Ministerial"  socialism,"  for  it  is  among 
Christian  ministers  that  it  finds  its  expression 
and  power. 

Two  elements  enter  into  and  form  this  new 
socialism.  On  the  one  hand  actual  unbelief  in 
respect  to  the  doctrines  and  the  faith  of  the 
church.  There  are  those  in  the  ministerial 
ranks  who  say  we  are  not  so  certain  about  the 
supernatural  side  of  the  Bible.  We  are  not  so 
sure  of  its  integrity  as  a  revelation  from  God. 
We  do  not  really  know  anything  about  the 
future.  All  we  actually  know  is  the  present. 
The  need  of  the  hour  is  the  practical.  Let  us 
join  hands  with  the  things  that  are  seen.  Let 
us  take  hold  of  the  natural  man  and  build  him 
up.  Let  us  establish  a  right  kind  of  society 
here.  Instead  of  taking  up  the  time  to  talk 
about  the  robe  of  divine  righteousness,  let  us 
go  to  work  and  see  that  men  have  good  coats 
for  their  backs.  Instead  of  getting  men  ready 
for  heaven,  let  us  get  them  ready  for  earth. 
Instead  of  talking  about  a  holy  city  on  high, 
let  us  make  a  sanitary  city  here  below.  In- 
stead of  seeking  to  defend  the  character  of 
God,  let  us  make  good  the  character  of  man. 
Instead  of  racking  our  brains  about  spiritual 
food,  let  us  look  to  it  that  v^-e  have  good  nat- 
ural food.  In  short,  instead  of  spending  our 
forces  upon  a  possible  eternity,  let  us  meet 


SOCIALISM  283 

the  demands  of  actual  time ;  let  us  build  a  so- 
ciety in  which  the  brotherhood  of  man  shall 
become  a  realized  fact,  and  where,  in  the  king- 
dom of  the  brotherhood  of  man,  each  human 
life  shall  be  sustained  by  every  other  life. 

These  teachers  declare  that  the  church  has 
a  right  to  exist  only  as  it  becomes  the  instru- 
ment for  such  a  society ;  that  the  church  which 
is  not  working  to  better  human  existence  here, 
the  church  which  is  not  seeking  to  bring  about 
the  days  of  heaven  upon  earth,  has  no  business 
to  talk  about  a  heaven  to  come — has  no  busi- 
ness to  be  at  all. 

There  is  another  class  of  Christian  ministers 
who  believe  in  the  Bible,  but  accept  its  doc- 
trines only  on  general  lines.  They  modify 
and  interpret  the  doctrines  to  suit  their  con- 
cept. To  them  Jesus  Christ  is  the  great  so- 
cialist. He  came  into  the  world,  so  they  say, 
to  bring  about  a  new  condition  of  things  in  it. 
He  came  to  rebuke  the  unnatural  order  of  so- 
ciety. He  came  to  be  a  reformer,  a  reorgan- 
izer  of  society.  His  relations,  it  is  pointed 
out,  were  not  with  the  class  but  with  the  mass. 
He  was  born  in  poverty  and  wore  its  badge. 
He  went  among  the  people  and  made  himself 
one  with  them.  His  teachings  were  a  constant 
arraignment  of  society,  his  one  effort,  to  estab- 
lish the  brotherhood  of  man,  enforce  the  rule 
of  unselfishness  and  love.  The  church,  so  they 
teach,  is  the  continuation  of  Christ's  concept, 
and,  in  exact  proportion  as  it  follows  the  ex- 


284  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE   TIMES 

ample  of  Christ,  the  church  will  be  the  ex- 
ponent and  advocate  of  socialism ;  that  true 
socialism  is  Christianity,  true  Christianity  is 
socialism. 

In  face  of  these  assertions  it  is  well  to  raise 
the  question:  Was  Jesus  Christ  a  socialist? 
Was  he  a  reformer? 

I  answer  in  the  negative.  He  was  neither 
.1  socialist  nor  a  reformer. 

If  he  were  a  reformer,  why  did  he  not  lift 
up  his  voice  in  protest  and  accusation  against 
governmental  corruption  ? 

The  government  under  which  he  was  born 
and  under  which  he  continued  to  live  was  the 
government  of  imperial  Rome,  Rome,  while 
the  most  magnificent  in  strength,  the  most 
limitless  in  power,  and,  while  giving  benefits 
and  civic  blessings  in  some  respects  never 
since  equalled,  was,  nevertheless,  the  most  cor- 
rupt of  governments.  It  was  made  up  of  bribe 
givers  and  bribe  takers  and  fattened  itself  off 
the  spoils  of  the  people.  But,  so  far  from 
protesting  against  its  corruption,  its  iniquity 
and  vice,  he  took  a  Roman  coin  bearing  the 
effigy  of  Caesar  and  bade  men  go  pay  their 
taxes  to  sustain  this  government,  saying  that 
they  should  render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that 
are  Caesar's.  At  another  time  he  bade  one  of 
his  disciples  to  cast  a  net  into  the  sea,  and 
when  he  had  caught  a  fish  therein,  finding  a 
piece  of  silver  in  its  mouth,  commanded  him 
to  go  pay  taxes  for  himself  and  the  disciple. 


SOCIALISM  285 

If  he  were  a  reformer,  why  did  he  not  protest 
against  war?  War,  according  to  socialism,  is 
the  instrument  of  the  few  by  which,  at  the 
cost  of  the  lives  of  the  many,  they  maintain 
their  power. 

He  had  a  great  opportunity  to  protest 
against  war. 

In  Rome  a  soldier  went  into  the  army,  not 
for  three  or  five  years,  but  for  twelve  or  fif- 
teen and  even  twenty  years.  War  was  the 
trade  of  emperors  and  kings,  war  was  the 
business  of  life.  Each  day  Jesus  could  hear 
the  tramp  of  the  legions.  He  knew  they  were 
going  to  or  returning  from  the  fields  of 
slaughter. 

He  never  raised  his  voice  against  war.  On 
the  contrary,  he  said  he  did  not  come  into  the 
world  to  bring  peace,  but  a  sword.  He  said 
that  his  presence  in  this  world  and  the  things 
he  taught  would  set  a  man  against  his  brother, 
divide  families,  and  be  the  hand  of  war  itself. 
Not  only  did  he  refrain  from  any  protest 
against  war,  he  went  so  far  as  to  announce  that 
during  the  whole  time  of  his  absence  from 
this  world  there  would  be  wars  and  rumors  of 
wars,  nation  should  rise  against  nation,  and 
kingdom  against  kingdom. 

If  he  were  a  reformer,  why  did  he  not  lift 
up  his  voice  against  slavery?  At  that  very 
hour  Rome  had  one  hundred  and  twenty  mil- 
lions of  subjects.  Of  that  number  sixty  mil- 
lions were  slaves,  the  lives  of  many  of  them 


286  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

not  worth  the  price  of  an  inferior  dog.  Slaves 
everywhere,  bending  under  the  rod  of  the 
master.  Not  once,  not  in  a  single  instance,  did 
he  say  a  word  against  slavery.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  recognized  the  tlistinction  between 
master  and  servant.  He  said,  when  a  servant 
docs  his  work  docs  the  master  thank  liim. 
"I  trow  not." 

If  a  reformer,  why  did  he  not  take  up  the 
question  of  the  saloon?  The  saloon  was  at 
every  corner.  Everywhere  wine  and  strong 
drink  flowed  like  water,  and  men  were  sodden 
with  it.  Not  by  a  single  word  did  he  warn 
men  against  this  disaster  or  lift  up  his  voice  in 
protest.  Instead  of  the  reputation  of  a  re- 
former with  the  multitude,  the  people  cried 
out  that  he  was  himself  "a  wine  bibber  and  a 
glutton." 

If  he  were  a  socialist,  why  did  he  not  take 
up  the  issue  of  labor  and  wages? 

He  saw  the  rich  living  oflf  the  unpaid  toil 
of  the  poor.  He  saw  those  wlio  were  paid 
receiving  a  stipend,  toiling  from  morning  to 
night,  and  barely  able  to  keep  body  and  soul 
together.  And  yet  he  raised  no  word  of  pro- 
test. He  never  inveighed  against  the  rich,  de- 
nounced their  corporate  trusts,  their  illegal 
combinations,  their  predatory  encroachments, 
and  demand  that  the  hours  of  labor  be  short- 
ened, the  remuneration  be  increased  and  legiti- 
mate wages  paid. 

If  he  were  a  socialist,  why  did  he  not  lift 


SOCIALISM  287 

up  his  voice  against  poverty,  testifying  that 
property  as  then  possessed  was  a  crime  and 
wealth  a  robbery?  Why  did  he  not  denounce 
poverty  as  the  product  of  the  privileged  few 
and,  while  accusing  the  rich  of  their  unlawful 
power,  appeal  to  the  poor  to  claim  their  right 
of  equal  share,  and  thus  banish  the  sin  and 
shame  of  poverty  ? 

Why  did  he  not  do  this  ? 

He  did  not  do  it ! 

He  had  an  immense  opportunity.  A  girl 
who  loved  him  took  an  alabaster  box  full  of 
costly  ointment,  poured  it  on  his  head  and  feet 
till  the  whole  room  was  filled  with  the  fra- 
grance of  her  devotion.  Some  one  suggested 
that  this  was  a  great  waste ;  that  the  ointment 
might  have  been  conserved,  sold  for  three  hun- 
dred pence  and  given  to  the  poor.  The  sug- 
gestion came  from  Judas — the  thief  and  the 
final  betrayer  of  the  Son  of  God.  Judas,  the 
betrayer  of  Christ,  is  the  only  Socialist  among 
professed  Christians  of  whom  the  New  Testa- 
ment gives  a  record.  It  was  the  Lord's  op- 
portunity to  take  up  the  issue  presented,  rebuke 
the  waste  and  advocate  the  claims  of  the  poor. 

He  did  nothing  of  the  kind. 

He  rebuked  the  socialist  who  proposed  it. 
He  not  only  rebuked  him,  he  declared  himself 
satisfied  with  the  waste,  because  the  woman, 
he  said,  had  wrought  a  good  work  upon  him ; 
she  had  discerned  his  person  and  work,  and 
had  anointed  him  against  the  day  of  his  bury- 


288  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

ing.  He  went  farther,  and  declared  that  so 
long  as  he  should  be  away  from  the  world 
poverty  and  the  poor  should  continue.  Not 
by  one  word  did  he  suggest  that  the  church 
which  he  was  to  found  should  take  up  the 
issue  of  poverty  and  seek  to  abolish  it  from 
among  the  sons  of  men.  Not  once  did  he  inti- 
mate that  his  teachings  followed  out  through 
the  coming  centuries  would  cause  the  elimina- 
tion of  poverty,  the  decrease  of  the  poor.  In- 
stead, he  said  that  so  long  as  the  church  should 
continue  in  the  world  poverty  would  remain, 
the  poor  should  continue.  It  was  the  plain 
denial  that  he  expected  the  church  to  work, 
testify,  or  legislate  against  poverty.  It  was 
the  plain  denial  that  he  was  a  socialist — a  plain 
denial  that  the  church  would  be  the  advocate 
of  socialism. 

He  gave  an  emphasis  to  the  continuation 
of  poverty  by  the  facts  of  his  own  life. 

He  was  born  in  a  stable.  He  wore  a  robe 
that  was  the  badge  of  poverty — the  seamless 
robe.  There  were  times  when  he  had  diffi- 
culty in  finding  food,  his  disciples  plucking 
ears  of  corn  from  the  wayside.  He  had  no 
certain  dwelling  place.  He  said  foxes  had 
holes  and  the  birds  of  the  air  had  nests,  but 
he  did  not  have  where  to  lay  his  head.  When 
he  died  he  was  wound  in  offered  linen  and 
buried  in  a  borrowed  grave. 

He  illustrated  the  fact  of  poverty  by  his  life 
and  proclaimed  its  continuance  by  his  words. 


SOCIALISM  269 

And  why  talk  about  him  as  an  example  for 
socialistic  endeavor? 

His  example  cannot  be  followed  in  any  wise. 

He  saw  the  hungry  multitude,  his  heart  was 
touched  with  compassion  and  he  would  feed 
them.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  this 
same  multitude  were  without  bread  and  food, 
not  because  they  were  a  lot  of  poverty-stricken 
beggars  on  the  edge  of  starvation,  but  a  crowd, 
like  any  other  crowd,  away  from  the  base  of 
supplies.  He  would  feed  them  because  they 
had  followed  him  and  were  in  need  of  nour- 
ishment. He  takes  a  few  loaves  and  blesses 
them,  then  breaks  them,  gives  them  to  the 
disciples,  and  the  disciples  hand  them  to  the 
people  till  all  are  satisfied  and  twelve  baskets 
full  of  fragments  are  left  over.  What  would 
such  a  method  of  making  bread  go  round  do 
to-day  if  it  were  possible?  It  would  destroy 
the  bakery  business  and  cause  a  revolt  in  trade. 
But  who  can  perform  the  miracle  ?  Why,  then, 
let  it  be  repeated,  talk  about  following  his 
example  ? 

How  did  he  pay  his  taxes  ?  As  already  sug- 
gested, by  bidding  a  disciple  go  out  and  fish  till 
he  found  a  lost  piece  of  silver  in  a  fish's  mouth. 
If  that  example  were  to  be  followed  we  would 
have  the  whole  business  community  going 
a-fishing  to  find  silver  in  a  chance  fish's  mouth. 

It  is  said  that  he  went  about  doing  good. 
And  this  is  the  socialist  idea  of  Christ.     It  is 


290  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

the  emphasis,  so  they  say,  of  the  great  doctrine 
of  altruism. 

But  how  did  he  do  good  ? 

According  to  the  record,  in  every  single  case, 
by  a  miracle — a  miracle  puts  his  '"good"  in 
a  category  beyond  that  of  example. 

Test  him  by  the  demands  of  practical  life 
and  it  will  be  found  that  he  was  the  most  im- 
practicable man  who  ever  lived. 

Hear  what  he  says  about  going  to  law :  It 
a  man  sue  you  for  your  coat,  give  him  your 
cloak  also.  If  he  demands  your  everyday  coat, 
let  him  have  your  overcoat  as  well. 

He  tells  those  who  are  smitten  on  one  cheek, 
instead  of  landing  a  blow  on  the  offender,  to 
turn  and  let  him  smite  the  other  cheek.  Surely, 
that  would  be  a  death  blow  to  socialism — it 
would  put  an  end  to  mob  rule,  to  picric  acid 
and  dynamite,  the  civilizing  and  renovating 
instrumentalities  of  socialism. 

Does  he  visit  schools,  colleges,  institutions 
of  learning,  the  schools  of  the  prophets,  and 
deliver  discourses  on  the  practical  side  of  life? 
Does  he  teach  economy,  the  laying  up  of  treas- 
ure, the  getting  ready  for  a  ripe  old  age  and 
the  rainy  day?  Does  he  advocate  the  savings 
bank  and  the  deposit  of  values  against  the 
demands  of  time? 

He  talks  about  saving  money.  He  advocates 
the  putting  of  it  in  bank — ^but  where.  I  pray 
you? 

He  says  we  are  to  lay  up  our  treasure  in 


SOCIALISM  291 

heaven,  and  not  on  earth  at  all.  Here  rust  will 
accumulate  upon  hoarded  treasure,  or  thieves 
may  break  through  and  steal;  money  laid  up 
in  heaven  is  alone  secure. 

Listen  to  him  intently  and  you  will  find  that 
he  is  not  talking  about  this  age  but  that  which 
is  to  come,  not  about  the  present  but  the  fu- 
ture. He  is  discussing,  not  what  we  shall  have 
here,  but  what  we  shall  have  in  the  there. 

The  outlook  of  Jesus  Christ  was  not  on  this 
world. 

There  is  one  tremendous  fact  which  proves 
it. 

That  fact  is  his  continued  absence  from  this 
world  for  two  thousand  years. 

If  he  had  been  anxious  to  change  society, 
why  did  he  not  stay  here?  He  who  could  turn 
water  into  wine  and  raise  the  dead  could  have 
remained  untouched  by  death,  unwithered  by 
age,  if  he  had  so  willed.  So,  remaining,  he 
could  have  wrought  all  changes  he  desired. 

If  he  were  opposed  to  sickness  and  disease 
why  did  he  not  stay  here  and  go  about  the 
world  healing  the  sick  ?  He  required  no  drugs, 
no  medicine,  no  surgeon's  knife;  he  could 
speak  and  it  would  have  been  done. 

If  he  were  opposed  to  death  and  the  dark- 
ness of  the  grave,  why  did  he  not  stay  and 
raise  the  dead  ?  Why  did  he  limit  his  ministry 
to  three  years  and  confine  his  operations  to 
the  insignificant  land  of  Palestine?  Why  did 
he  not  stay  and  keep  pace  with  the  years  ?    It 


292  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

would  have  been  as  easy  for  him  to  have 
walked  upon  the  wide  oceans  as  upon  the  nar- 
rower sea  of  Galilee.  If  storms  had  met  him 
on  the  way,  his  "peace,  be  still,"  would  have 
hushed  their  noise,  his  word  of  command  have 
held  the  waves  in  leash.  He  could  have  gone 
from  shore  to  shore  where  the  dead  were  lying, 
whether  in  bed,  on  bier,  or  in  the  Lazarus 
grave ;  he  could  have  spoken,  and  the  dead 
would  have  risen  to  life  in  our  midst,  as  well 
as  there  in  Bethany.  O,  if  he  were  against 
all  this  sorrow  and  anguish  and  defeat  and 
excuseless  misery  and  mystery  of  death — why 
did  he  not  stay  and  with  his  mighty  power, 
his  mightier  love,  overcome  death  and  bring 
in  the  constancy  of  life  and  the  vigor  of  health 
— Why  not? 

If  he  were  interested  in  the  progress  of  civ- 
ilization, why  did  he  not  stay  and  guaranty 
it?  He  could  have  settled  the  questions  of 
geology  and  astronomy.  He  could  have  de- 
fined electricity  and  set  forth  the  laws  of  its 
application.  Instead  of  allowing  men  to  dig 
wearily  in  the  earth,  or  scan  with  blinded  eyes 
the  far-off  stars,  or  waste  their  limited  mo- 
ments in  the  laboratory,  he  could  have  spoken 
just  the  word  of  truth  and  science.  He  who 
could  multiply  bread  and  fishes,  raise  the  dead 
and  still  the  storm,  and  do  all  this  without  the 
need  of  tools,  he  could  have  told  men  how  to 
live,  how  to  build,  how  to  sow  and  how  to 
reap,  how  to  reach  life's  worth  and  fulness. 


SOCIALISM  293 

If  he  had  been  interested  in  the  develop- 
ment of  this  age  along  the  highway  of  its 
noblest  possibilities,  why  did  he  not  stay  and 
teach  and  show? 

He  could  have  stayed. 

He  said  so. 

He  said  no  man  could  take  his  life  from 
him  unless  he  so  willed.  He  had  power  to 
lay  it  down  and  he  had  power  to  take  it  again. 
With  such  power  he  could  have  bulwarked 
himself  against  any  approach  of  death.  He 
could  have  stayed  here  if  he  had  so  willed. 

Why  did  he  not  stay  and  banish  war,  slavery, 
drunkenness,  crime,  iniquity  and  vice  of  every 
sort?  He  cast  out  demons — why  could  he  not 
cast  out  such  devils  as  these  ?  Say  not  a  word 
further  about  his  ante-mortem  life  and  possi- 
bilities of  power ;  take  him  at  his  own  words 
after  he  rose  from  the  dead,  wdien  he  said  that 
all  power  was  given  him  in  heaven  and  on 
earth.  Be  it  so.  If  he  were  a  socialist,  if  he 
desired  a  perfect  society  among  men  as  well 
as  among  angels,  if  he  were  here  to  blaze  the 
way  of  evolution  by  precept  and  principle,  why 
did  he  not  call  a  halt  on  his  upward  path  to 
glory,  stay  and,  even  then,  exercise  ^^is  claimed 
omnipotence  to  produce  the  ideal  condition 
which  eloquent  men,  in  his  name,  say  he  came 
into  the  world  to  produce? 

The  answer  is  clear  enough — it  is  inevitable 
— his  outlook  was  not  on  this  present  world. 

That  his  outlook  was  not  on  tl:is  present 


294  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE   TIMES 

world  is  shown  by  the  purpose  of  his  absence. 

Why  did  Jesus  go  away  after  he  had  mas- 
tered death  and  when  the  plenitude  of  his 
powers  was  upon  him?  His  disciples  pro- 
tested at  the  very  mention  of  his  going,  were 
broken-hearted  at  the  thought  of  it. 

He  tells  them  the  reason  of  his  purposed 
going.  He  was  going  into  heaven,  there  to 
prepare  a  place  for  them.  He  was  not  going 
to  some  distant  part  of  the  earth ;  he  was  going 
to  die ;  he  was  going  to  rise  from  the  dead ; 
and  then,  in  the  might  of  his  resurrection 
strength,  he  would  ascend  to  heaven,  and  in 
that  place,  beyond  measure  of  distance,  he 
would  prepare  a  dwelling  place  for  them; 
heaven  and  not  earth  was  to  be  the  abode.  And 
let  it  be  remembered  he  is  not  holding  out 
heaven  to  the  individual  disciple,  but  to  the 
corporate  body,  offering  heaven  to  them  as  a 
final  abode  when  the  church  should  be  com- 
plete. 

All  this  settles  the  relation  of  the  church  to 
the  present  age. 

The  church  as  such  is  here  in  the  process  of 
formation  as  the  body  of  Christ.  Its  process 
condition,  and  the  objective  of  its  completion, 
bear  witness  that  it  is  not  here  as  a  perma- 
nent but  a  temporary  institution.  The  church 
is  in  the  world  as  a  pilgrim  and  a  stranger. 
A  pilgrim  is  one  who  is  away  from  home  and 
on  his  way  home.  So  surely  as  Christ,  the 
head,  has  ascended  to  heaven,  the  church,  as 


SOCIALISM  295 

his  body,  must  ascend  there  as  well.  So  surely 
as  Christ  is  the  bridegroom  and  dwells  in 
heaven,  the  church,  which  is  his  bride,  must 
be  presented  to  him  and  dwell  in  heaven  also. 
Heaven,  and  not  the  earth,  is  the  ultimate  of 
a  complete  and  triumphant  church. 

That  there  may  be  no  mistake  about  it,  the 
Lord  himself  says  to  his  disciples,  after  an- 
nouncing to  them  that  he  is  going  away  into 
heaven  to  prepare  a  place  for  them : 

"And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I 
will  come  again,  and  receive  you  unto  myself ; 
that  where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also." — John 
14:3. 

It  is  a  simple  and  direct  promise  to  come 
and  take  the  church  out  of  the  world.  It  is 
not  a  promise  to  the  individual  that  in  some 
circumstantial  or  providential  way  at  death  he 
will  come  in  spirit  to  the  dying  believer.  There 
is  no  such  paucity  of  thought  as  that  in  his 
promise.  It  is  a  promise  to  come  himself,  not 
to  the  individual  disciple,  but  to  the  collective 
body,  to  the  whole  body  of  his  disciples,  and 
take  them  clean  and  clear,  and  at  the  same 
time,  the  whole  of  them,  out  of  the  earth. 

It  is  the  express  declaration  that  there  is  a 
term  to  the  presence  of  the  church  on  the 
earth ;  that  the  Lord  is  coming  to  remove  the 
church  from  the  earth  to  heaven. 

The  outlook  of  the  church,  then,  is  not  on 
this  age,  but  on  one  to  come.  The  church  is 
not  here  as  a  factor  of  society,  as  a  reorgan- 


296  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

izer,  as  a  reformer,  but  as  one  who  passes 
through  the  world,  even  as  her  Lord  passed. 
A  tree,  primarily,  is  not  in  the  earth  for  the 
sake  of  the  soil  in  which  it  grows ;  it  is  in  the 
soil  for  its  own  sake.  It  is  in  that  particular 
spot  of  earth  that  it  may  draw  out  of  it  the 
material  for  its  own  upbuilding,  and  at  a  cer- 
tain stage  of  growth  is  not  infrequently  trans- 
planted to  another  location.  The  church  is  not 
here,  primarily,  for  the  world,  but  for  its  own 
sake,  that  it  may  take  of  the  world  according 
to  the  ordained  purpose  of  God  and  build  into 
itself  that  membership  foreseen  in  covenant 
intention.  That  it  will  be  transplanted  to  the 
garden  of  the  Lord  is  certified  in  his  assur- 
ance to  come  and  take  it  to  himself. 

That  the  Lord  did  not  expect  the  church  to 
better  the  world,  or  that  the  world  would  grow 
better,  in  the  sense  of  spirituality,  during  his 
absence,  is  manifest  by  his  own  statement,  by 
his  express  teaching. 

In  his  discourse  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives 
he  looks  down  the  possible  centuries  and  de- 
clares that  in  that  coming  time  there  will  be 
wars  and  conflict  of  nations  to  the  end ;  that 
human  selfishness  will  be  the  enthroned  power ; 
that  lawlessness  will  be  multiplied  and  the  love 
of  divine  and  spiritual  things  wax  cold ;  that 
the  fires  of  passion  will  up-leap  and  burn  and 
the  flame  of  faith  and  Christian  hope  grow 
dim.  He  predicts  the  character  of  the  world's 
civiUzation  in  the  closing  hours  of  this  age. 


SOCIALISM  297 

He  says  it  will  be  as  it  was  in  the  days  of 
Noah.  We  know  what  it  was  in  the  days  of 
Noah.  They  were  eating  and  drinking,  they 
were  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage.  It 
was  a  time  of  arrant  materialism,  a  time  when 
the  appetites  and  passions  of  the  natural  man 
were  let  loose  without  stint.  We  know  that 
it  was  a  time  when  the  earth  was  filled  with 
violence,  and  although  the  Gospel  was 
preached  through  Noah  by  the  very  spirit  of 
Christ  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  prior 
to  the  flood,  the  hearers  were  few  and  the  tes- 
timony of  grace  went  begging.  We  know  that 
it  was  a  time  when  the  thoughts,  the  imagi- 
nations, and  the  intents  of  the  heart  were 
evil,  and  evil  continually. 

The  Son  of  God  says  the  end  of  this  age 
shall  be  like  that. 

There  was  a  civilization  and  culture  in  that 
age  as  well  as  this.  When  Cain  went  out  from 
the  presence  of  God  he  founded  a  city.  There 
were  workers  in  iron  and  brass ;  there  were 
builders  of  organs  and  players  on  instruments 
of  music.  Life  had  its  force  and  its  fashions. 
Side  by  side  with  the  culture  was  the  crime 
and  the  shame.  The  climax  was  an  impossible 
human  society  in  spite  of  the  faithful  testimony 
of  God.  The  Son  of  God  says  the  end  of  this 
age  will  be  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Sodom. 
It  shall  be  a  time  in  which  righteous  men,  like 
Lot,   shall   vex   themselves   unceasingly,   and 


298  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

dash  themselves  hopelessly  against  the  increas- 
ing on-rush  of  godlessness  and  sin. 

What  the  Lord  teaches  he  inspires  his  apos- 
tles to  teach. 

Paul  testifies  that  so  far  from  the  church 
producing  a  spiritual  change  in  the  social  con- 
dition, the  professing  church  itself  will  be 
subject  to  the  moulding  influence  and  power 
of  the  world,  will  depart  largely  from  the 
faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints,  and 
that  the  condition  in  society  will  be  so  antag- 
onistic to  the  true  teaching  of  the  Word  of 
God  that  he  calls  it  by  the  definite  title  of 
"Perilous  times." 

The  apostle  James  writes  as  though  he  had 
dipped  his  pen  in  twentieth  century  ink.  He 
declares  that  wealth  will  be  accumulated  in 
the  hands  of  the  few;  that  the  wage  of  the 
laborer  will  be  held  back;  that  class  and  mass 
will  dash  against  each  other;  that  the  rust 
on  the  wealth  of  the  rich  shall  eat  their  flesh 
as  it  were  fire;  that  they  have  heaped  their 
treasure  for  the  last  times ;  that  the  injustice 
of  the  hour,  and  that  in  spite  of  the  supposedly 
moulding  influence  of  the  church,  is  so  great 
that  the  Lord,  as  the  very  judge,  is  repre- 
sented as  standing  at  the  door. 

Christian  socialism  is  an  effort  to  change  the 
predicted  course  of  this  age;  an  effort  to 
Christianize  men  by  bettering  their  physical 
and  social  state. 

In  holding  out  such  hopes  it  is  setting  up 


SOCIALISM  299 

a  false  light  in  the  world's  moral  and  spiritual 
darkness.  It  is  giving  a  pledge  that  cannot 
be  redeemed.  It  is  denying  the  whole  tenor 
of  the  earthly  life  of  Christ.  It  is  shutting  its 
eyes,  not  only  to  the  divinely  predicted  course 
of  things,  but  to  the  logical  necessity  for  the 
course ;  to  the  fact  that  without  a  distinct,  new 
creation,  human  society  must,  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  the  case,  in  exact  proportion  to  the 
exaltation  of  its  own  resources  and  rule  of 
its  own  wisdom,  diverge  more  and  more  from 
the  plane  of  divine  and  spiritual  things.  This 
world,  in  its  present  age,  is  like  a  sinking  ship. 
Every  attempt  of  socialism,  Christian  or  other- 
wise, to  better  the  age  socially,  is  the  folly  and 
the  futility  of  those  who  would  go  on  board 
a  sinking  ship  and,  while  the  waves  were  rush- 
ing in  and  the  ship  slowly  but  surely  sinking, 
spend  their  force  in  clearing  out  the  state- 
rooms and  decorating  the  panels.  It  is  the 
folly  of  a  man  who  spends  his  force  in  seek- 
ing to  bridge  a  bridgeless  gulf. 

Neither  Christ  .nor  Christianity  are  in  the 
world  to  reorganize  the  society  of  the  natural 
man,  elevate  him,  or  appeal  to  his  own  re- 
sources. What,  then,  was  the  mission  of  Christ 
and,  consequently,  of  the  church? 

I  answer — He  came  into  the  world  not  to 
live,  but  to  die. 

He  came  to  die  that  he  might  establish  a 
basis  on  which  a  holy  God  could  be  just  and 
yet  justify  a  guilty  sinner.     He   came  that 


SOO  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  tlMES 

he  might  redeem  man  from  the  judgment  of 
death  and  the  power  of  sin.  He  came  that 
he  might  recreate  him  as  a  new  humanity, 
make  him  a  God-enthroned  being,  and  give 
him  an  immortal  and  glorious  body  which 
should  shine  forth  at  last  in  the  beauty  and 
splendor  of  his  own  resurrection  body. 

This  is  the  meaning  of  his  presence  in  yon- 
der heaven  to-day. 

He  is  there  as  the  new  head  of  the  race. 
He  is  there  to  communicate  from  the  head- 
quarters of  omnipotence,  by  the  instrumental- 
ity of  the  Spirit  and  the  Word,  his  own  very 
life  and  nature;  fashioning  those  who  own 
and  confess  him  into  his  spiritual  image  here 
and  now,  that  he  may  clothe  them  with  his 
outward  image  by  and  by. 

In  the  light  of  his  office  work  at  the  throne 
of  God,  we  may  read  the  work  into  which  the 
church  is  called  during  his  absence. 

The  church  is  here  in  his  name  to  testify 
to  the  hopelessness  of  the  old  Adamic  nature. 
The  church  is  here  as  the  concrete  denial  of 
the  doctrine  of  evolution.  She  is  here  to  say 
that  as  the  incarnation  of  Christ  was  not  the 
taking  up  of  the  old  Adam  humanity  into 
union  with  God,  but  the  creation  of  a  new  and 
distinct  humanity  in  which  God  was  enthroned, 
so  membership  in  the  church  of  Christ  is  not 
by  any  fancied  elongation  of  the  old  nature 
into  a  spiritual  environment.  The  church  is  here 
to  testify  in  language  that  cannot  be  misun- 


SOCIALISM  301 

derstood  that  the  natural  man  receiveth  not 
the  things  of  God ;  that  he  cannot  understand 
them;  that  they  are  pure  fooHshness  to  him. 
The  church  is  here  to  testify  that  when  you 
can  gather  grapes  of  thorns  and  figs  of  this- 
tles ;  when  you  can  bring  spirit  out  of  flesh,  or 
make  corruption  the  virgin  mother  of  holiness, 
then  can  human  nature,  either  by  the  aid  of 
the  church  or  its  own  evolution,  build  a  society 
whose  foundation  will  be  eternal  and  whose 
relationships  shall  have  in  them  the  accent 
of  continual  and  unbroken  peace.  Not  before. 
The  church  is  here  to  testify  that  the  only  so- 
ciety that  can  abide  on  the  earth  and  turn 
it  into  the  paradise  of  God  is  a  society  in  which 
God  is  the  enthroned  and  supreme  power,  and 
that  this  enthronement  can  come  only  by  a 
distinct,  new  genesis,  a  genesis  as  real  and 
actual  as  the  old ;  that  this  new  genesis  comes 
from  above  and  not  from  below;  that  except 
a  man  be  quickened  from  above  and  be  made 
a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature,  he  cannot 
enter  into  the  true  kingdom  of  the  brotherhood 
of  man  and  God, 

The  church  is  here  to  enunciate  and  re- 
emphasize  the  dogma  that  Christ  risen  from 
the  dead  is  the  new  head  of  the  race,  and  that 
alone  through  him  can  come  the  new  and  spir- 
itual life.  The  church  is  here  to  point  the 
world  back  to  the  cross,  proclaiming  that  in 
that  cross  Christ  became  a  sin-offering  for  the 
world  at  large,  and  a  substitute,  in  particular. 


302  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

for  every  sinner  who  by  faith  should  claim 
him  as  his  personal  sacrifice  for  sin.  The 
work  of  the  church  is  to  exhort  men  to  offer 
up  Christ,  by  faith,  to  God  as  their  all-sufficient 
propitiation  and  perfect  substitute  The  work 
of  the  church  is  to  point  the  world  to  the  risen 
Christ,  not  the  Christ  of  Bethlehem,  not  the 
Christ  of  mortal  flesh,  but  the  Christ  of  the 
empty  tomb,  the  Christ  who  shines  in  an  im- 
mortal body,  in  a  triumphant  humanity,  on 
the  ultimate  throne ;  point  to  him  and  bid  them 
own  him  as  the  recreator  of  their  humanity,  as 
the  source  of  the  new,  the  spiritual,  and  the 
endless  life,  the  life  that  will  enable  man  to 
reign,  and  rule,  and  rejoice,  in  a  society  which 
shall  be  none  other  than  the  kingdom  of  the 
brotherhood  of  the  sons  of  God. 

The  church  is  not  to  go  out  and  raise  the 
false,  delusive  hope  that  man  can  be  repaired 
like  a  broken  piece  of  furniture  and  made 
good  as  new,  or  that  he  is  like  a  closed  tel- 
escope, only  needing  to  be  opened  out  that  he 
may  get  the  true  and  delivering  view  of  God. 
The  church  is  not  to  sing  the  Lorelei  song 
that  the  world  is  growing  better  because,  for- 
sooth, we  have  rapid  transit,  chemical  analysis 
and  progressive  aviation ;  sing  the  Lorelei  song 
that  identifies  Christianity  and  civilization,  that 
makes  civilization  the  choral  note  of  Christian- 
ity, while  every  moment  the  world,  like  the 
deluded  rower  in  his  fated  skiff,  is  drawing 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  swirling  whirlpool 


SOCIALISM  303 

of  destruction — the  judgment  climax  of  the 
age.  The  church  is  to  point  the  world  to  the 
only  hope — the  Coming  of  the  second  and  per- 
fect man,  the  true  king  and  saviour  of  the 
earth. 

And  this  is  the  true  hope.  And  this  is  to 
be  the  final  solution.  When  he  comes  whose 
right  it  is  to  reign,  he  will  give  to  every  man, 
wrought  of  God  in  him,  his  true  place.  Then 
every  man  shall  sit  beneath  his  vine  and  fig 
tree,  none  daring  to  molest  or  make  afraid. 
The  knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the 
earth  as  waters  the  face  of  the  deep,  war  shall 
cease,  peace  shall  reign,  and  the  perfect  so- 
ciety, made  up  of  a  new  and  God-enthroned 
humanity,  shall  come  to  its  own  at  last. 

The  law  of  life  in  that  new  and  perfect  so- 
ciety will  be,  not  the  law  of  self-exaltation,  but 
the  law  and  will  of  God  established  in  the  soul. 
Then  the  true  personalism  of  man  will  be  re- 
vealed. Then  men  will  say,  it  is  not  I,  but 
Christ.  I  no  longer  live,  but  Christ  liveth  in 
me.  Then  man  will  find  that  his  true  center 
is  God.  In  God  he  will  live  and  move  and 
have  his  being,  and  live  and  have  that  being 
intelligently.  The  nexus  between  God  and 
man,  the  guaranty  of  the  perfect  coming  life 
and  ultimate  society  is — Christ.  The  universe 
in  its  final  term  is  Christo-centric.  A  society 
that  is  not  centered  in  Christ  must  be  in  the 
flotsam  and  the  jetsam  of  continual  antag- 
onism with  itself  and  the  nature  of  things.    In 


304  THE  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

Christ  is  the  alone  secret  of  the  unity  of  life 
and  the  fulfillment  of  the  highest  social  rela- 
tions. Only  when  humanity  is  related  to 
Christ  as  the  body  is  to  the  head  will  the  indi- 
vidualism of  humanity  function  to  the  glory  of 
the  head  and  the  perfect  expression  of  human- 
ity's distinctive  membership. 

The  work  of  the  church,  then,  is  to  get  men 
into  Christ — get  Christ  into  men;  begin  to 
build  up  the  foundation  for  the  perfect  society 
by  bringing  the  recreative  process  of  Christ 
to  bear  upon  individual  life,  presenting  each 
man,  as  Paul  says,  perfect — in  Christ. 

This  work  will  not  change  the  general  so- 
■  ciety  of  the  world  in  this  age  of  the  natural 
man.  God  himself  for  three  years  and  a  half 
walked  in  visible  personahty  in  it.  He  walked 
in  it,  talked  in  it,  taught  and  wrought  in  it, 
in  the  personality  and  individuality  of  his  eter- 
nal Son;  but  human  society,  under  obedience 
to  that  law  which  exalts  self  and  not  God, 
slew  him  through  the  vulnerability  of  his  hu- 
manity, in  the  tragic  death  of  the  cross. 

The  church  has  been  in  the  world  for  two 
thousand  years. 

When  it  stood  nearest  to  the  fountain  head ; 
when  the  very  breath  of  Pentecost  was  still 
warm  in  its  veins,  and  the  voice  of  him  whose 
Word  upholdeth  all  things,  was  still  vibrating 
in  their  ears;  in  spite  of  the  regenesis  of  hu- 
man lives  and  the  illumination  from  divinity, 
the  world  society  went  on  its  way,  changing 


SOCIALISM  305 

here  and  there  its  forms,  uttering  new  cries, 
but  remaining  at  heart  the  same  old  society, 
the  society  that  sets  up  man  and  not  God. 

The  Spirit  of  God  has  been  at  work  in  the 
world  specifically  for  two  thousand  years, 
transforming  the  sons  of  men,  illumining  the 
darkened  souls,  filling  the  moral  landscape  with 
bursts  of  divine  glory;  and  yet  it  is  not  the 
spiritual  but  the  natural  man  who  rules  the 
world;  the  very  socialism  of  the  day,  even 
when  presented  in  the  name  of  Christ,  however 
smoothly  it  talks,  means  always,  in  the  final 
analysis,  the  dignity  of  the  natural  man;  it 
means  that  in  the  natural  man  are  to  be  found 
the  capital,  the  assets,  and  all  the  resources 
for  the  highest  and  most  perfect  manhood; 
and  alas,  alas,  it  is  to  this  natural  man  that 
men  who  call  themselves  the  ambassadors  of 
the  Christ  and  the  apostles  of  a  perfect  social- 
ism are  appealing  for  the  realization  of  their 
dreams.  In  spite  of  that  cross  flinging  its 
bloody  shadow  over  human  nature  and  echoing 
in  the  cry  of  agony  from  the  lips  of  the  for- 
saken Son  of  God,  the  old  judgment  of  the 
flood,  that  the  end  of  all  flesh,  both  good  and 
bad,  had  come  before  God,  that  in  the  natural 
man  there  is  nothing  on  which  God  the  Al- 
mighty builds  his  hopes,  there  are  those  who 
call  themselves  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  of 
the  grace  of  God,  who  fail  to  see  that  their 
very  administration  is  a  witness  that  the  pres- 
ence and  the  work  of  the  church  in  this  world 


306  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES 

have  not  been  able  to  change  the  old  concepts, 
the  old  pride,  and  the  lingering  accents  of  the 
devil's  lie,  "Ye  shall  be  as  gods." 

The  church  when  true  to  its  functions  will 
always  be  rejected  by  the  natural  man,  and 
the  Spirit  of  God  be  resisted.  The  natural 
man  will  never  accept  the  thesis  of  the  church 
that  he  is  without  spiritual  resource,  or  that 
he  cannot,  in  his  own  energies,  build  a  tower 
whose  top  shall  reach  to  heaven  and  lift  him 
above  any  coming  flood.  That  the  church, 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  church,  have  held 
the  flesh  in  check,  is  the  testimony  of  the  Son 
of  God  himself.  He  teaches  that  the  church 
in  this  age  is  as  salt  and  light.  As  salt,  the 
church  preserves  the  world  from  total  corrup- 
tion. As  light,  it  shines  in  the  persistent  dark- 
ness of  the  natural  man.  The  men  and  women 
in  whom  there  is  the  deposit  of  the  divine  life, 
in  whom  the  Christ  nature  is  dominant,  and 
who  are  guided  by  the  Spirit,  restrain  evil, 
act  in  the  resistance  of  righteousness  to  un- 
righteousness ;  but,  with  all  this,  it  is  only  a 
portion  of  humanity  that  is  pervaded  by  the 
salt,  only  a  portion  that  is  indwelt  by  the  light. 

Either  the  purpose  of  God  has  failed  in 
the  fact  of  this  fractionalism,  or  there  has 
been  a  misconception  of  the  purpose  of  God 
in  the  age.  The  purpose  of  God  in  this  age 
is,  not  to  change  the  world,  but  to  call  out  of 
it  a  people  for  the  name  of  Christ,  who  shall 
be  united  to  him  in  spirit  and  nature,  and  that 


SOCIALISM  307 

by  faith.  God's  purpose  is  not  the  evohition 
of  the  old  race,  but  the  creation  of  a  new  and 
spiritual  race  in  Christ.  Every  true  Christian 
is  a  Son  of  God  in  embryo ;  his  full  birth  and 
deliverance  is  to  be  at  the  Coming  of  Christ, 
as  it  is  written : 

"Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God ;  it 
doth  not  yet  appear  [that  is,  it  is  not  yet  openly 
revealed]  what  we  shall  be:  but  we  know 
that,  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like 
him :  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is." — I.  John 
3:  2. 

That  such  a  body  should  be  a  modifying 
blessing  as  it  passes  across  the  face  of  the 
world  ought  to  go  without  saying.  A  body 
of  American  tourists  may  pass  through  the 
old,  established  society  of  Europe;  they  may 
be  a  blessing  in  transitu,  but  the  passage,  how- 
ever much  it  may  modify  certain  forms  of 
things  here  and  there  and  give  new  concepts 
of  individuals,  does  not  change  the  essential 
condition  of  the  society  itself,  neither  does  the 
church. 

The  work  of  the  minister  of  Christ  is  to 
enter  into  partnership  with  this  ordained 
scheme  of  God,  be  a  co-worker  with  him  in 
the  constitution  and  building  up  of  the  new 
and  spiritual  race.  That  is  his  highest  func- 
tion, that  is  the  rare  dignity  into  which  he  is 
called.  To  go  down  to  the  level  of  the  natural 
life,  seek  to  ameliorate  it,  change  it,  better  it, 
lift  it  up,  inspire  it  with  hope  in  itself,  or  at- 


308  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

tempt  to  make  it  the  final  factor  in  the  world's 
work,  is  to  fall  short  of  the  divine  commis- 
sion, is  to  miss  it  altogether  and  prove  false 
to  the  exalted  trust  of  God. 

This  failure  on  the  part  of  the  ministry  of 
Christ  to  front  bravely,  fairly  and  squarely, 
the  fact  that  God  has  set  the  natural  man 
aside,  that  there  is  no  hope  in  himself,  that 
his  only  hope  is  in  the  regenerating  mercy  of 
God  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;  this  holding 
back  of  a  large  part  of  the  professing  church 
from  the  work  of  fitting  men  for  eternity 
rather  than  time;  this  endeavor  on  the  part 
of  the  church  to  placate  the  demands  of  mod- 
ernism and  be  governed  by  the  witchery  of 
evolution ;  the  willingness  to  make  the  Word 
of  God  secondary  to  the  word  of  man  concern- 
ing man;  the  immense  efifort  now  making  on 
the  part  of  the  natural  man  to  find  a  solution 
to  all  the  difficulties  of  life  in  himself;  the  in- 
creased determination  to  turn  the  back  on 
any  other  world  than  this ;  the  insistent  camp- 
ing of  the  race  between  the  cradle  and  the 
grave,  as  though  this  narrow  parenthesis  of 
time  were  the  sum  total  of  the  human  outlook ; 
this  setting  aside  of  any  revelation  from  God 
except  that  of  natural  intuition — all  these 
things  are  distinctive  signs  of  the  times. 

They  are  signs,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the 
church  is  coming  to  the  end  of  its  usefulness 
as  a  witness  for  divine  and  unearthly  things ; 
that  it  is  turning  away  from  the  commission 


SOCIALISM  309 

of  Christ  and  accepting  the  commission  of 
man ;  that  it  is  losing  its  nexus  with  the  Spirit 
and  that  it  is  walking  by  sight  and  not  by 
faith;  on  the  other  hand,  the  activities  of  the 
flesh,  the  pride  of  human  learning  and  human 
achievement,  the  putting  of  science  in  the 
place  of  God,  are  witnesses  that  the  platform 
is  being  built  for  the  exaltation  of  man  as  su- 
preme, for  the  final  repudiation  of  a  "non- 
resident" God. 

Socialism,  as  expressing  the  latest  effort  of 
the  natural  man  to  go  out  like  Cain  from  the 
presence  of  God  and  build  a  city,  a  society  and 
a  civilization  in  defiance  of  divine  order,  divine 
law,  divine  revelation  and  divine  warning,  is 
a  witness  that  the  world,  like  the  ship  now  on 
the  breakers,  requires  only  one  more  wave  to 
dash  it  to  pieces.  It  is  the  sign  that  the  world 
needs  the  hand  and  touch  of  its  true  and  com- 
ing king. 

It  is  a  warning  that  the  Coming  of  the  Lord 
draweth  nigh. 


EMMANUELISM 

''And  Jesus  said,  Somebody  has  touched  me, 
for  I  perceive  that  virtue  is  gone  out  of  me." — 
Luke  8 :  46. 

He  said  this,  because  a  woman  who  had 
spent  all  her  living  on  physicians  and  was 
nothing  bettered,  only  worse,  had  come  behind 
him  in  the  crowd,  touched  the  hem  of  his 
garment,    and   was    immediately   healed. 

She  was  cured  by  contact  with  the  Son  of 
God. 

She  got,  as  he  said,  virtue  and  power  out 
of  him. 

This  curative  process  went  on  wherever 
he  came.  People  were  cured  by  touching  him ; 
he  cured  people  by  touching  them.  He  cured 
them  by  a  word,  and  always  when  they  exer- 
cised the  condition  of  faith. 

There  is  a  movement  in  our  midst  to-day 
which  comes  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and 
claims,  as  a  system,  to  perform  some,  if  not 
all,  of  the  cures  he  wrought.  It  takes  one 
of  the  very  titles  of  Christ.  He  is  called  Em- 
manuel.   This  system  calls  itself,  or  is  called, 

THE  EMMANUEL  MOVEMENT. 

It  takes  its  name  from  the  fact  that  its 
original    manifestation,    and    its    real    head- 


EMMANUELISM  311 

quarters,  is  the  Emmanuel  Church  of  Boston. 

The  definition  of  EmmanueHsm  (as  it  may 
be  styled)  is  given  in  its  own  official  text- 
book, "ReHgion  and  Medicine,"  published  by 
Moffat,  Yard  &  Co.,  Boston,  and  written  by 
Drs.  Worcester,  MacComb  and  Cariat. 

According  to  this  text-book,  Emmanuelism 
belongs  to  the  category  of  metaphysical,  or 
mind  healing.  It  is  known,  scientifically,  as 
Psychotherapy.  It  is  built  upon  the  principle 
that  mind  dominates  the  body ;  that  the  body 
reacts  upon  the  mind. 

Body  and  mind,  together,  constitute  the  in- 
dividual; but  the  individual  has  two  distinct 
minds,  the  ordinary  working  or  surface  mind 
and,  underneath  that,  another  and  superior 
mind.  The  upper  mind  is  always  more  or 
less  in  a  state  of  flotsam  and  jetsam,  accord- 
ing to  circumstances  or  conditions.  The  sec- 
ond mind  is  known  as  the  "sub-conscious." 
The  sub-conscious  mind  is  the  higher  nature 
in  man.  It  has  in  it  all  the  necessary  ele- 
ments of  purity  and  truth.  It  has  clear  moral 
vision.  It  has  all  the  endowment  which  the 
upper  mind  lacks.  It  is,  practically,  the  nexus 
between  man  and  nature,  man  and  the  univer- 
sal spirit,  man  and  the  God  of  nature. 

This  sub-conscious  mind  has  in  it  all  the 
resources  and  powers  by  which  it  can  save 
man  physically  and  morally.  It  can  save  man 
physically,  that  is,  curatively,  by  its  relation 
to  the  chemic  forces  of  the  body.    That  mind 


312  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

operates  in  relation  to  these  forces  is  demon- 
strated every  day.  Fear  causes  the  cheek  to 
pale;  shame  brings  the  flush;  sorrow  causes 
a  flow  of  tears ;  hope  makes  the  pulses  beat ; 
good  and  evil  desires  may  set  the  blood  on 
fire.  A  man  can  be  under  such  a  strain  of 
emotion  that  the  sweat  will  roll  in  great  beaded 
drops  from  his  forehead,  and  his  whole  body 
be  as  though  it  were  bathed  in  water.  '  Now, 
these  conditions  are  due  to  the  effect  of  the 
mind  on  the  circulatory  system,  on  the  com- 
bining and  disarranging  of  the  chemical 
forces  of  the  body. 

All  these  results  may  be  produced,  more 
or  less,  by  the  surface  mind.  But  the 
sub-conscious  mind,  when  allowed  to  work, 
can  produce  all  these  operations  of  the' 
natural  forces  of  the  body  in  largest  form. 
Take  an  illustration  of  the  superiority  of  the 
sub-conscious  mind :  You  are  trying  to  re- 
call a  name.  You  exercise  your  mind  and  all 
your  known  ingenuity  to  recall  it.  In  spite 
of  all  you  can  do  you  cannot  remember  that 
name.  Then  you  give  it  up  in  despair  and  quit 
thinking  about.  Suddenly,  the  name  comes 
back  to  you. 

How  did  it  happen? 

The  answer  is,  the  sub-conscious  mind  has 
a  retentive  memory.  The  moment  it  was  al- 
lowed to  work,  it  brought  forward  the  name 
from  the  recess  where  it  had  been  stored. 

In  order  that  the  sub-conscious  mind  may 


EMMANUELISM  313 

freely  operate,  two  methods  are  possible — 
auto-suggestion  and  extra-suggestion. 

Auto-suggestion  signifies  self-suggestion.  It 
is  self  suggesting  to  self,  to  the  inner  and 
deeper  self. 

A  man  may  be  full  of  worry  and  melan- 
cholia. Let  him  suggest  to  himself  that  he 
is  happy;  that  he  has  courage.  The  sub-con- 
scious mind  will  respond  and  fill  him  with 
these  very  qualities.  The  physician,  perhaps, 
has  told  him  that  he  has  heart  disease.  Let 
him  suggest  to  himself  that  the  physician  does 
not  know,  has  made  a  wrong  diagnosis;  let 
him  suggest  to  himself  that  he  has  a  strong, 
a  normal  heart — the  sub-conscious  mind  will 
so  act  upon  the  cardiac  muscles  that  he  shall 
be  well. 

Auto-suggestion  may  be  used  to  cure  oneself 
of  vices,  appetites,  passions  and  immoralities. 
The  sub-conscious  mind  under  right  self-sug- 
gestion can  save  a  man  morally  and  spiritually 
just  as  readily  as  it  can  save  him  physically. 

When  it  is  impossible,  for  one  reason  or  an- 
other, to  cause  the  sub-conscious  mind  to  oper- 
ate for  good  through  auto-suggestion,  it  may 
be  acted  upon  by  suggestion  from  another. 
The  suggestion  may  be  made  while  the  patient 
is  in  a  waking  state.  If  he  does  not  respond, 
he  may  be  thrown  into  a  hypnotic  sleep  and, 
while  thus  hypnotized,  the  sub-conscious  mind 
will  recall  to  him  things  totally  forgotten  when 
awake.     Under  this  hypnosis  he  may  be  led 


314  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES 

to  say  and  do  things  from  which,  when  awake, 
he  would  either  shrink,  or  of  which  he  would 
be  incapable.  If  the  person  who  operates 
apon  him  suggests  health,  or  otherwise  than 
health,  the  individual  will  respond,  for  the 
moment,  as  though  it  were  his  own  original 
impulse. 

This  is  the  Emmanuel  Movement  on  general 
principles.  It  is  Psycho-therapeutic ;  it  is  met- 
aphysical, or  mind-healing. 

What  relation  does  the  Emmanuel  Movement 
hold  to  Christian  Science? 

The  Emmanuel  Movement  protests  that  it 
would  have  come  into  existence  even  if  there 
had  never  been  a  Christian  Scientist. 

However  true  or  untrue  this  may  be,  the 
Emmanuel  Movement,  in  spite  of  its  protest, 
must  be  placed  in  the  same  category  with 
Christian  Science.  Like  Christian  Science,  it 
is  a  metaphysical  system  of  healing.  Its  heal- 
ing factor  is  mind,  not  drugs  or  medicine,  nor 
the  surgeon's  knife.  Like  Christian  Science, 
its  working  hypothesis  is  a  wrong  and  a  true 
mind. 

Some  of  its  postulates  are  very  similar. 

Christian  Science  says  the  farther  we  get 
away  from  the  activity  of  the  false  mind  (that 
is,  the  upper  or  surface  mind  of  Emmanuelism) 
the  less  mind  we  shall  have,  and  the  greater 
the  actual  power.  Christian  Science,  to  prove 
its  proposition,  says  that  when  a  lob  Iter  loses 
its  claw  it  replaces  it  with  another     It  does 


EMMANUELISM  ^\5 

this  because  it  has  no  wrong  mind  to  suggest 
to  it  even  the  existence  of  the  claw.  If  a  man 
had  no  more  mind  than  a  lobster,  each  time 
he  lost  a  leg,  or  an  arm,  or  any  member  of  his 
body,  he  would  unconsciously  replace  it  wilh 
another. 

On  page  19  of  "Religion  and  Medicine,"  we 
are  told  something  similar: 

We  are  told  that  as  we  descend  in  the  scale 
of  conscious  life  we  find  the  recuperative  en- 
ergy intensified.  If  a  worm  is  cut  in  two,  the 
amputated  part  will  be  reproduced.  In  rep- 
tiles the  loss  of  a  leg  or  a  tail  is  made  good 
by  the  growth  of  a  new  member. 

This  statement  is  made  to  illustrate  the  fact 
that  there  is  a  sub-conscious  mind;  and  the 
more  there  is  of  this  unconscious  mind,  and 
less  there  is  of  the  surface  mind,  the  mind 
that  is  always  thrusting  itself  into  conscious- 
ness, the  more  apt  man  will  be  to  cure  himself 
of  physical  ills,  the  more  apt  will  he  be  to 
repudiate  the  false  suggestions  continually 
coming  to  him  from  one  environment  and  an- 
other. 

Not  only  is  the  Emmanuel  Movement,  in 
the  last  analysis,  based  on  precisely  the  same 
principle  as  Christian  Science ;  it  owns  and 
confesses  it. 

On  page  10  of  "Religion  and  Medicine," 
I  find  these  words : 

"All  over  this  country  solid  and  enduring 
temples  are  reared  by  grateful  hands  and  con- 


316  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

secrated  to  the  ideal  and  name  of  Mrs.  Eddy. 
We  must  be  able  to  pass  beneath  the  exterior 
of  Christian  Science  and  find  a  truth  in  it,  a 
gift  for  men,  a  spiritual  power  answering  to 
men's  needs  which  the  churches  at  present  do 
not  possess." 

On  page  11  there  is  this  statement: 

"With  all  its  obscurity  we  find  in  the  sacred 
book  of  Christian  Science  (that  is,  Christian 
Science  and  Health)  great  truth,  freedom  from 
the  fetters  of  sense  and  passion,  the  power  of 
the  soul  over  the  body,  victory  of  the  mind 
over  its  tyrants,  fear  and  anger,  the  presence 
of  God  manifested  with  power ;  above  all,  the 
promise  of  an  immense  immediate  good  as 
the  result." 

On  page  103  we  are  told  that: 

"A  new  source  of  power  has  come  into 
many  lives  to-day  through  the  medium  of 
Christian  Science." 

If  the  Emmanuel  Movement,  by  all  these 
tokens,  is  not  a  legitimate  daughter  of  Chris- 
tian Science,  it  gives  all  the  praise  a  dutiful 
daughter  might  be  expected  to  lavish  upon  a 
loved  and  much  respected  mother. 

If  Emmanuelism  is  not  an  offspring  of 
Christian  Science,  it  belongs  to  the  same  genus, 
to  the  same  species.  If  it  claims  to  diflfer  from 
Christian  Science,  it  is  only  the  dififerencc  that 
one  degree  of  the  same  system  claims  from 
another,  in  claiming  that  it  is  more  advanced 
and  better  than  the  other. 


EMMANUELISM  317 

Their  postulates  when  pushed  to  the  limit 
result  in  the  same  theological  outcome.  They 
stand  in  the  same  attitude  to  tl^e  Christianity 
of  the  New  Testament. 

Christian  Science  denies  every  fundamental 
doctrine  of  New  Testament  Christianity. 

What  is  the  relation  which  the  Emmanuel 
Movement  holds  to  Christianity? 

Like  Christian  Science,  it  denies  the  very 
foundation  of  Christianity.  It  denies  the  re- 
vealed range  of  the  person  of  Christ,  his 
work,  his  office,  and  his  relation  to  man.  It 
affects  the  whole  extent  of  man's  relation  to 
Christ  and  God. 

According  to  the  Emmanuel  Movement 
postulate,  man  has  in  himself  all  the  resources 
to  cure  both  body  and  soul. 

Such  a  being  cannot  be,  upon  any  natural 
issue,  a  lost,  helpless,  hopeless  sinner.  Such 
a  being  needs  no  saviour  other  than  himself — 
none  higher  than  the  range  or  altitude  of  his 
own  humanity. 

He  needs  no  ab  extra,  no  divine  Saviour. 

This  is  an  absolute  denial  of  the  postulate 
of  Holy  Scripture.  Holy  Scripture  says,  and 
says  it  without  any  equivocation,  and  in  lan- 
guage that  it  is  impossible  to  misapprehend, 
that  in  man  there  is  no  good  thing  that  is  not 
gangrened  with  the  touch  of  sin ;  that  the  mind 
of  the  natural  man  is  at  enmity  with  God ; 
that  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither, 
indeed,  can  be ;  that  man  never  can.  no  matter 


318  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

how   much   or    honestly    he    may    try    reach 

the  standard  of  God's  holiness,  nor  the  stand- 
ard of  God's  health ;  and  that  man  is  hopeless- 
ly lost  and  helplessly  undone,  needing  a  Sa- 
viour outside  of,  and  distinct  from,  himself — 
a  Saviour  wholly  extra  to  humanity. 

On  the  issue  of  the  salvability  of  man  physi- 
cally, or  morally,  the  Emmanuel  Movement 
and  the  Word  of  God  are  as  far  apart  as  the 
East  is  from  the  West. 

The  Emmanuel  Movement  lays  down  the 
proposition  that  man  is  a  psychic  being.  As 
a  psychic  he  is  able,  under  the  action  of  right 
mental  suggestion,  to  come  into  harmonious 
relation  with  the  universal  spirit — into  a  state 
of  reconciliation  with  God. 

But  Holy  Scripture,  recorded  in  Saint  Paul's 
epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  says :  "the  natural 
man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  "Spirit  of 
God :  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him : 
neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are 
spiritually  discerned." — I.  Corinthians  2 :  14. 

Now,  this  word  translated  "natural"  in  the 
Greek  is  psiihikos,  and  transliterated  is  "psy- 
chic," or  "soulical."  Thus  the  authorita- 
tive word  of  Holy  Writ  is  that  the  psychic 
man  not  only  does  not  receive  the  things  of 

God,   but    HE    CANNOT    KNOW    THEM.      Hc   haS 

no  genius,  no  capacity  in  himself  for  God. 
He  is  a  deficient. 
The  antithesis  is — immense. 


EMMANUELISM  319 

The  Emmanuel  Movement  says  that  man 
is  an  efficient  towards  God. 

Holy  Scripture  says  he  is  a  deficient. 

Between  the  natural  man  and  God  there  is 
an  impassable  gulf.  That  gulf  exists  in  the 
difference  of  nature.  Man  is  a  psychic,  that 
is,  literally,  a  soulic  being.  God  is  a  spirit, 
wholly  pneumatic.  Until  man  has  the  Spirit 
of  God  he  cannot  accept  or  understand  the 
things  of  God. 

The  Emmanuel  Movement  is,  therefore,  an 
absolute  repudiation  of  the  Bible  doctrine  con- 
cerning the  constitution  of  man  and  his  rela- 
tion to  the  things  of  God. 

The  Emmanuel  Movement  contradicts  the 
whole  testimony  of  God  concerning  death.  On 
page  277  of  "Religion  and  Medicine,"  there 
is  this  assertion: 

"Death  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  divine  order 
of  the  world  as  life,  and,  therefore,  for  all 
God's  creatures  it  means  not  evil  but  good." 

Death  a  part  of  the  divine  order  of  the 
world ! 

Death  meant  to  be  good  and  not  evil ! 

Death  a  blessing  and  a  benediction ! 

Tliis  is  the  definition  given  by  Emmanuel- 
ism. 

This  definition  is  against  the  facts. 

Death  is  not  in  the  divine  order  of  the  world 
as  life.  Life  is  an  endowment.  Death  is  a 
punishment.  Death  is  not  a  benediction,  but 
a  doom. 


320  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

It  is  not  a  gift,  but  a  penalty. 

There  was  no  death  when  the  first  man  was 
created. 

Death  was  threatened  as  a  penalty,  and  when 
man  sinned,  came  in  as  a  punishment. 

So  the  Word  of  God  speaks  of  it. 

A  blessing,  a  benediction  to  man,  meant  to 
come  with  the  same  grace  as  the  divine  order 
of  Hfe! 

Why,  then,  does  the  Emmanuel  Movement 
try  to  keep  it«  patients  from  dying?  Why  not 
let  them  die?  If  death  is  as  much  a  part  of 
the  divine  and  original  order  in  the  world  as 
life;  if  it  be  as  natural  to  die  as  it  is  to  be 
born  (and  there  are  those  who  say  so),  why 
not  laugh  and  be  merry  over  death?  We 
laugh,  we  smile,  and  are  glad  over  the  birth 
of  a  babe.  If  death  is  as  natural  as  birth,  why 
not  have  death  and  funeral  parties,  and  make 
them  just  as  joyous  occasions  as  birth  parties? 

Death  not  meant  for  evil,  but  for  good ! 

If  this  be  so,  then  death  is  a  friend  and  to 
be  gladly  welcomed. 

Death  a  friend ! 

Is  that  God's  view  of  it,  as  revealed  in  his 
W^ord  ? 

Nay !  Hear  what  God  says  about  death. 
Listen  to  the  characterization  he  makes  of  it : 

"The  last  ENEMY  shall  be  destroyed— 
death." — I.  Corinthians  15:  26. 

Not  a  friend,  but  an  enemy,  says  God. 

Christian  Science  says  there  is  no  death. 


EMMANUELISM  321 

That  is  the  first  lie  ever  uttered  in  the 
world.    The  devil  started  that  lie.    He  said : 

"Ye  shall  not  surely  die," — Genesis  3:  4. 

The  Emmanuel  Movement  teaches  that  death 
is  meant  for  good  and  not  evil,  and  is,  there- 
fore, a  friend. 

That  is  a  lie  equally  as  great  as  the  first 
lie.  It  is  a  lie  because  God  says  that  death  is 
not  a  friend,  but  an  enemy.  If  it  is  an  enemy, 
it  cannot  be  meant  for  good — an  enemy  is 
neither  the  bearer  nor  the  symbol  of  good.  It 
is  a  lie,  this  statement,  equally  as  deceiving 
as  the  Christian  Science  lie  that  there  is  no 
death. 

Death  in  the  divine  order! 

Impossible, 

God  himself  repudiates  it  as  such. 

He  says  that  death  is  not  in  the  divine,  it 
is  in  the  devil,  order  of  things. 

If  death  were  in  the  divine  order,  then 
God  would  be  the  author  of  death;  just  as 
much  the  author  and  creator  of  death  as  he 
is  of  life.  But  God  is  not  the  author  of  death. 
The  author  of  death  is  the  Devil.  God  says 
so.  Speaking  by  the  inspiration  of  God, 
speaking  according  to  his  very  spirit  and  mind, 
Paul  says: 

"Him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is, 
the  Devil."— Hebrews  2:  14. 

This  is  not  the  mere  opinion  of  Paul.  It 
is  not  a  Hebraism  come  over  from  the  Baby- 
lonish captivity  and  descended  in  lineal  order 


322  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

to  Paul,  obsessing  his  mind.  No !  Paul  takes 
pains  to  declare  that  what  he  writes  is  in  truth 
the  very  Word  of  God.    He  says : 

"The  Word  of  God  which  ye  heard  of  us, 
ye  received  it  not  as  the  word  of  men,  but,  as 
in  truth,  the  Word  of  God." — I.  Thessalonians 
2:13. 

The  Word  of  God,  then,  declares  that  death 
is  not  in  the  divine  order  as  life,  is  not  an 
original  part  of  the  creation,  but  a  devil  order 
of  things,  and  solely  because  of  him. 

The  object  of  redemption  is  not  to  reconcile 
us  to  death,  but  to  give  us  the  victory  over 
death. 

We  are  told  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
came  into  the  world  that  he  might  destroy 
him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the 
Devil.  Destroying  him  that  has  the  power 
of  death,  destroys  the  death  which  that  power 
evokes.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  died  that  he 
might  swallow  up  death  in  his  co-equal  and 
eternal  life  with  God.  He  rose  that  he  might 
be  the  legal,  the  just,  and  the  unhindered  life- 
giver  to  those  who  were  under  the  sentence 
and  doom  of  death  and  who,  through  fear  of 
it,  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage. 
He  came  to  save,  not  only  the  soul,  but  the 
body  of  man.  He  came  to  save  man,  not  only 
from  moral  and  spiritual,  but  from  physical 
death.  The  Word  of  God  denies  and  repudi- 
ates the  whole  proposition  of  the  Emmanuel 
Movement  in  resfard  to  death. 


EMMANUELISM  323 

On  the  basis  of  the  Emmanuel  doctrine  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  not  virgin  born,  and 
the  incarnation  of  Christ  was  not  a  pre-emi- 
nent and  isolated  fact.  No  one  who  accepts 
the  premises  of  Emmanuelism  and  follows 
them  to  their  logical  conclusion  can  believe 
in,  or,  for  a  moment,  accept  the  miraculous 
generation  and  birth  of  Jesus  Christ.  For,  if 
it  be  true  that  man,  the  psychic  man,  has  in 
him  all  the  powers  that  can  relate  him  body 
and  soul  to  God,  then  there  is  no  need  of  a 
new  and  miraculous  type  of  humanity.  As 
there  is  no  necessity  for  a  new  humanity,  then 
Christ  is  not  the  type  of  a  new  humanity.  As 
the  natural  humanity  comes  by  ordinary  gen- 
eration, and  Christ  is  not  extraordinary,  there 
is  no  reason  why  his  generation  should  not 
be  as  that  of  all  other  men — natural  and  not 
supernatural.  God  dwelt  in  him;  but  God 
dwells  in  all  men,  and  finds  his  peculiar  en- 
thronement in  the  sub-conscious  mind.  The 
enthronement  of  God  in  Christ  was  in  the  sub- 
conscious mind.  While  Christ  was  not  super- 
natural, he  was  exceptional.  His  exceptional- 
ness  consisted  in  the  fact  that  he  allowed  his 
sub-conscious  mind  to  dominate.  This,  then 
(so  Emmanuelism  would  teach),  is  what  Paul 
means  when  he  says,  "Let  this  mind  be  in  you 
which  was  in  Christ  Jesus.'  He  means,  of 
course,  as  Jesus  allowed  his  sub-conscious 
mind  to  reveal  the  deity  that  was  in  it,  so  we 


324  THE   SIGNS  OF   THE  TIMES 

are  to  let  the  sub-conscious  mind  in  its  mani- 
fest the  God  who  dwells  in  us. 

If  Emmanuelism  be  true,  there  is  no  basis 
on  which  to  build  the  virgin  birth  of  Christ, 
no  ground  for  the  claim  of  supernaturalness 
in  him.  His  separateness  from  the  average 
man  (and  Emmanuelism  is  forced  to  admit 
this)  is  simply  because  he  allows  the  divine 
life,  which  is  represented  by  the  sub-conscious 
mind,  to  work.  He  is  an  exception  to  men, 
in  that  he  is  the  interpreter  of  God;  not  the 
God  of  exterior  nature,  but  the  God  of  human 
nature,  the  God  in  man. 

Christian  Science  says  that  Jesus  was  the 
"way  shower." 

Eimnanuelism  would  teach  that  Jesus  Christ 
was  the  interpreter  of  God,  the  interpreter  of 
God  to  man,  by  interpreting  man  to  himself, 
enabling  him  to  see  the  divinity  already  within 
him — seeking  to  awaken  the  divine  sub-con- 
sciousness. 

In  its  final  analysis,  therefore,  Emmanuel- 
ism, no  matter  how  much  it  may  deny  the 
charge,  sets  aside  in  logic,  if  not  in  actual 
words,  the  virgin  and  miraculous  origin  of 
the  Christ. 

Emmanuelism  does  not  point  the  sinner  to 
a  crucified  Christ.  It  does  not  tell  him  that 
forgiveness  of  sin  is  to  be  found  in  the  atoning 
death  of  the  cross.  It  does  not  point  him  to 
a  man  risen  from  the  dead,  and  tell  him  that 
in  this  risen  Christ  there  is  virtue  and  power, 


EMMANUELISM  325 

It  does  not  exhort  men  to  touch  him  by  faith 
and  get  the  new  and  spiritual  Hfe  which  he 
alone  can  communicate.  EmmanueHsm,  hke 
Christian  Science  says:  Look  within:  all  the 
resources  to  overcome  the  sense  of  sin  and 
the  power  of  sickness ;  all  the  forces  of  a  new 
and  holy  life,  are  in  you,  resident  in  your  sub- 
conscious mind.  And  the  whole  body  of 
Christian  healing,  so  Emmanuelism  would 
teach  us,  is  based  on  the  principle  of  intra 
mural  resource.  The  whole  movement  of 
Christ,  so  it  says,  was  on  the  line  of  mental 
suggestion. 

Christ  confined  his  healings  to  the  specific 
diseases  which  Emmanuelism  professes  to 
heal  (this  is  the  affirmation  of  the  leaders  of 
Emmanuelism).  He  never  healed  tuberculosis, 
diphtheria,  or  typhoid  fever.  He  healed 
neurosis,  neurasthenia,  hypochondria.  He 
cured  nervous  disorders.  He  appealed  con- 
tinually to  the  sub-conscious  mind,  and  led 
men,  by  its  operation,  to  throw  off  their  ail- 
ments. Every  case  of  healing  (so  Emmanuel- 
ism assures  us)  was  an  illustration  of  mind 
operating  on  matter. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  the  celebrated 
healing  of  the  paralytic  is  to  be  accounted  for. 

You  will  remember,  on  that  occasion 
the  paralyzed  man  was  let  down  through  the 
opened  roof,  on  his  bed,  to  the  feet  of  Jesus. 
When  Jesus  saw  him  he  said  to  the  man  that 
his  sins  were  forgiven.     This  annoyed  the 


326  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

crowd,  and  they  murmured,  saying,  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  belonged  only  to  God. 
In  response  to  this  disapproval  he  said  to 
them  that  there  was  no  reason  to  marvel 
at  his  expression,  for  it  was  just  as  easy  to 
tell  the  man  his  sins  were  forgiven,  as  it 
was  to  bid  him  rise,  take  up  his  bed  and  walk ; 
and  in  order  to  prove  that  one  was  within  the 
compass  of  the  other,  he  did  tell  the  man  to 
rise  up  and  walk.  You  remember,  the 
man  did  as  he  was  commanded  and  rose  a 
well  man  before  their  wondering  eyes.  The 
point  to  be  made  is,  that  the  man  was  a  sin- 
ner. He  had,  no  doubt,  brooded  over  his 
sins.  This  occupation  of  his  mind  interfered 
with  the  proper  functioning  of  his  body.  Jesus 
relieves  his  mind  by  telling  him  that  his  sins 
are  forgiven,  God  has  nothing  against  him; 
there  is  to  be  no  judgment  here,  or  hereafter, 
concerning  these  sins.  It  is  an  immense  relief 
to  the  man's  mind.  The  depression  is  removed 
from  his  system ;  the  blood  flows  normally  to 
all  parts  of  his  body;  the  circulation  is  com- 
pletely restored;  every  organ  functions  as  it 
should ;  the  man  feels  himself  well ;  under  this 
impulse  or  restored  equilibrium,  he  flings  aside 
the  old  mattress  that  had  been  as  a  shackle 
upon  him  and  goes  forth  a  free  man. 

It  is  on  this  principle  laid  down  by  Em- 
manuelism  that  Jesus  cast  out  demons. 

The  Emmanuel  Movement  is  in  perfect  ac- 


EMMANUELISM  327 

cord  with  Christian  Science  on  the  subject  of 
demons. 

Christian  Science  does  not  believe  in  de- 
mons. Demons  are  only  evil  thoughts.  The 
leader  and  founder  of  Emmanuelism  denies 
the  existence  of  demons.  Demonism,  so  called, 
is  simply  the  obsession  of  false  thoughts — 
false  ideas.  Jesus  cast  out  these  false  ideas, 
these  obsessing  thoughts,  by  giving  mental 
suggestion  to  the  maniacal,  the  crazy,  people 
who  thronged  upon  his  path. 

This,  of  course,  explains  the  incident  of  the 
man  of  Gadara. 

According  to  the  gospel  record,  this  man 
had  six  thousand  evil  spirits  dwelling  in  his 
body.  In  "Religion  and  Medicine,"  we  are 
told  that  Jesus  met  the  man,  spoke  soothing- 
ly and  consolingly  to  him,  filled  him  with  quiet 
suggestions,  until  the  man,  calmed  and  paci- 
fied, sat  down  at  Jesus'  feet.  When  the  crowd 
who  had  heard  of  the  "miracle"  came  to  see, 
they  found  the  man,  indeed,  at  Jesus'  feet, 
clothed  and,  as  it  is  said,  "in  his  right  mind." 
By  suggesting  the  proper  thoughts,  Jesus  en- 
abled the  man's  "right"  mind,  his  sub-con- 
scious mind,  to  act  freely,  until  he  became 
master  of  himself,  another  man. 

This  is  how,  according  to  Emmanuelism, 
that  demons  were  cast  out.  It  is  true,  Jesus 
acted  as  though  he  believed  in  the  existence  of 
demons. 

Is  there  a  contradiction  between  Jesus  and 


328  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

Emmanuelism  on  this  point?  Let  us  hear 
what  the  leaders  of  the  Emmanuel  Movement 
have  to  say ;  let  us  hear  their  own  testimony ; 
then  we  shall  be  able  to  judge  them  "out  of 
their  own  mouth." 

On  page  361  of  "Religion  and  Medicine," 
is  this  unmistakable  declaration: 

"As  education  progresses,  belief  in  demoni- 
acal possessions  dies  out.  The  greatest  strong- 
holds of  the  belief  to-day  are  in  non-Christian 
countries.  It  is  hard  to  resist  the  impression 
that  Christ  himself  shared  the  common  idea. 
Yet  we  must  remember  that  the  narratives 
of  the  disorder  were  written  by  men  prepos- 
sessed by  the  theory  of  demoniacal  action,  and 
even  the  words  of  Jesus  himself  come  to  us 
through  the  minds  of  such  men.  If  the  evi- 
dence warrants  us  in  believing  that  Jesus  did 
not  share  the  contemporary  belief,  we  must 
maintain  that  in  no  way  does  this  fact  invali- 
date his  spiritual  authority  as  the  founder  of 
the  kingdom  of  God." 

Let  us  analyze  this  amazing  statement  and 
see  its  actual  contents. 

1.  It  is  ignorance,  and  not  education,  which 
believes  in  demoniacal  possessions. 

2.  It  is  evident  that  Jesus  shared  the  impres- 
sions of  the  ignorant,  superstitious,  and  credu- 
lous, people  of  his  times.  It  seems  plain  that 
he  fully  believed  in  demons. 

3.  There  is  only  one  way  to  "resist"  the 
impression  that  Jesus  believed  in  demons,  a/id 


tMMANUELISM  329 

that  is,  to  recognize  that  his  words  have  not 
been  correctly  reported,  or  they  have  been 
misinterpreted  by  the  ignorance  and  supersti- 
tion of  the  apostles  who  profess  to  give  his 
words  to  us.  This  means,  of  course,  that  the 
New  Testament  is  not  an  inspired  record — 
that  is  to  say,  not  divinely  inspired ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  a  writmg  onginarmg  m  numan 
ignorance  and  superstition. 

4.  If  the  evidence,  however,  is  to  be  believed 
that  Jesus  really  did  accept  the  doctrine  of 
demonism,  and  really  professed  to  cast  out 
evil  spirits,  then  this  must  be  accounted  for 
on  the  ground  that  Jesus  himself  was  not  as 
learned  as  the  men  who  wrote  "Religion  and 
Medicine."  He  did  not  know  as  much  about 
psjchology  as  they;  or, 

5.  If  Jesus  did  not  really  believe  in  demons, 
nor  in  Satanic  powers,  then  he  simply  con- 
ceded to  the  ignorance  of  his  hearers — winked 
his  eye  (so  to  speak)  at  the  ignorance  and 
superstition  of  the  times. 

And  now  mark  the  ethics  of  Emmanuelism, 
which  this  analysis  reveals: 

*Tn  no  way  [say  the  leaders  and  the  found- 
ers of  Emmanuelism]  does  this  fact  [the  pos- 
sibility that  Jesus  believed  in  demons,  was 
ignorant,  therefore,  and  superstitious ;  or,  that 
he  pretended  to  believe  as  the  crowd  did  in 
order  to  placate  them] — in  no  way  does  this 
fact  invalidate  his  spiritual  authority  as  the 
founder  of  the  kingdom  of  God." 


330  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

It  is  hard  to  find  sufficient  vocabulary  to 
deal  with  this  conclusion.  Emmanuelism  de- 
nies the  unhindered  wisdom  and  knowledge  of 
Jesus.  It  puts  him  on  the  level  of  ignorance 
and  superstition  with  the  most  ignorant  and 
superstitious;  or,  it  makes  him  a  dishonest 
deceiver,  knowing  what  the  people  believed, 
and  willing  to  confirm  them  in  what  he  knew 
to  be  untrue.  Emmanuelism  makes  Jesus 
either  an  ignorant  and  superstitious  man,  or 
a  wilful  and  dishonest  teacher,  stooping  to  the 
lowest  level  of  deception  to  win  the  popular 
applause.  And  yet,  in  face  of  all  this,  Em- 
manuelism says  it  makes  no  difit'erence  in  the 
authority  of  Jesus  as  a  spiritual  teacher,  as 
the  foundation  on  which  is  built,  or  to  be  built, 
the  kingdom  of  God.  What  must  be  thought 
of  such  a  concept  of  ethics?  What  shall  be 
thought  of  the  honesty  of  Emmanuelism  itself? 
Does  it  not  justify  the  question  how  far  Em- 
manuelism is  concealing  its  own  unbelief  that 
it  may  deceive  the  people  ? 

While  Emmanuelism  recognizes  that  Jesus 
used  mental  suggestion  in  his  so-called  mira- 
cles of  healing,  it  calls  a  halt  in  the  acceptance 
of  the  miracles  which,  seemingly,  transcribe 
the  laws  of  nature.  Such  miracles  as  turning 
water  into  wine,  giving  sight  to  the  blind,  rais- 
ing the  dead,  stilling  the  storm,  it  passes  over 
in  silence.  It  says  it  will  not  accept  these  mira- 
cles till  science  and  modern  scholarship  have 
given  permission  to  do  so.     In  other  words, 


EMMANUELISM  331 

Emmanuelism  limits  the  miracles  of  Christ 
to  the  realm  of  the  metaphysical — to  the  realm 
of  mere  mental  suggestion.  And  it  is  here 
Emmanuelism  finds  explanation  for  the  mira- 
cles of  the  Apostolic  age.  On  page  94  of 
"Religion  and  Medicine,"  we  are  told  that  the 
phenomenon  of  the  speaking  with  tongues  was 
due  to  auto-suggestion. 

It  is  an  astounding  thing  to  learn  that  such 
marvellous,  epoch-making  events  as  those 
which  took  place  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  (the 
descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  manifestation 
of  the  fiery  tongues,  and  the  speaking  with 
tongues,  so  that  every  man  heard  in  his  own 
language  the  wonderful  things  of  God)  were 
all  due  to  auto-suggestion ;  practically,  to  the 
exercised  will  power  of  each  disciple. 

It  is  on  the  basis  of  auto-suggestion,  we  are 
told,  that  prayer  is  made  effective. 

Prayer  is,  when  effective,  subjective  and 
not  objective. 

The  individual  gets  the  moral  and  spiritual 
answers  to  his  prayers,  not  because  God  steps 
in,  but  because  by  auto-suggestion  he  creates 
the  condition  desired  in  his  own  mind.  On 
this  basis  prayer  may  be  answered,  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  for  the  sick.  The  answer  may 
be  communicated  by  mental  suggestion.  When 
you  are  praying  for  the  sick,  you  are  sending 
mental  suggestions  of  health  into  their  mind. 
The  answers  will  be  all  the  more  certain  if 
the  sick  can  know  that  you  are  praying  for 


332  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

them.  The  moment  your  friend  knows  that 
you  are  praying  for  him  he  will,  if  he  has 
faith  in  you,  join  in  partnership  with  your 
suggestion,  and,  sooner  or  later,  auto-sugges- 
tion will  begin  to  work  in  him.  He  will  sug- 
gest health  to  himself.  He  will  repudiate  the 
suggestion  of  sickness  or  indisposition.  He 
will  continually  suggest  to  himself  that  he  is 
well ;  that  he  is  full  of  vigor  and  tone.  His 
whole  energies  will  be  at  work  along  the  line 
of  recuperation  and  reinforcement  of  the 
nerves ;  working  together  in  partnership  with 
the  attitude  of  prayer  and  as  one  prayed  for, 
you,  and  the  one-time  sick  man,  create  new 
psychic  and  physiologic  conditions. 

The  one  supreme  thing  required  in  the 
scheme  of  metaphysical  healing  on  the  part 
of  the  patient  is  faith. 

No  matter  what  the  object  of  that  faith 
may  be;  it  may  be  faith  in  Christian  Science, 
Theosophy,  !Mahommedanism — faith  is  the 
condition.  Faith  is  the  condition  in  which 
neither  Christian  Science  nor  Theosophy,  Ma- 
hommedanism  nor  Confucianism,  Emmanuel- 
ism,  nor  God  himself,  does  the  work.  It  is 
a  faith  condition  in  which  mental  suggestion, 
either  from  the  operator  or  the  individual, 
may  work.  Emmanuelism  is,  therefore,  a  sys- 
tem which  will  work  just  as  well  in  Christian 
Science,  in  Theosophy,  Buddhism,  Confucian- 
ism, New  Thought,  Agnosticism,  or  any  other 
"ism."    A  system  which  will  work  as  well  in 


EMMANUELISM  333 

the  name  of  Mahommedanism  and  Agnos- 
ticism, in  the  name  of  Buddhism  as  well  as 
Christianity,  can  hardly  be  that  Christianity 
which  honors  and  glorifies  the  "faith  once  for 
all  delivered  to  the  saints" ;  hardly  that  faith 
which  testifies  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only 
name  given  under  heaven  whereby  men  must 
be  saved. 

Nay !  Emmanuelism  is  too  supple,  too  agree- 
able, too  close  in  fellowship  with  all  that  de- 
nies Christ  and  the  truth  for  which  he  stands, 
to  be  of  Christ  or  to  be  Christian. 

It  cannot  be  Christian,  no  matter  how  much 
it  may  make  the  claim. 

Is  that  Christian  which  invalidates  the 
doctrine  of  the  fall  and  makes  the  whole 
argument  of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans 
as  worthless  as  an  old  wives'  fable?  Is 
that  Christian  which  so  exalts  the  meta- 
physical resources  of  the  natural  man  that 
he  shall  expect  to  find  in  himself  all  that  makes 
for  salvation  bd^h  here  and  hereafter?  Is 
that  Christian  which,  in  face  of  God's  own 
denial  of  it,  teaches  that  death  (which  he  in- 
flicted as  a  penalty)  is  a  boon  and  a  benedic- 
tion, intended  for  good  and  not  evil,  for  peace 
and  not  punishment?  Is  that  Christian  which 
renders  a  virgin-born  Son  of  God  useless, 
makes  the  cross  of  Christ  no  more  than  mar- 
tyrdom, and,  by  every  fundamental  proposi- 
tion of  its  system,  turns  regeneration  into  a 
reasonless  theory?     Can  you  call  that  Chris- 


334  THE  SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES 

tian  which  invades  the  deity  of  Christ,  brings 
his  miracles  down  to  the  dead  level  of  mental 
suggestion,  circumscribes  and  limits  his  heal- 
ings to  a  class  of  cures  which  requires  no 
miraculous  energy  at  all?  Is  that  Christian 
which  excuses  the  unscientific  belief  of  Jesus 
on  the  ground  of  an  ignorance  that  makes  him 
no  match  for  the  education,  the  culture,  and 
the  science  of  this  age?  Is  that  Christian 
which  not  only  sets  aside  the  nature  miracles 
of  Christ,  but  takes  this  book,  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  tells  us  that  the  words  of  Christ 
reported  therein  may  be,  after  all,  only  the 
words  of  ignorant,  partisan,  and  superstitious 
disciples?  Is  that  Christian  which  tells  us 
that  only  so  much  of  the  New  Testament  may 
be  accepted  as  modern  science  and  scholarship 
shall  verify  (and  Emmanuelism  tells  us  with- 
out any  equivocation  that  this  is  where  it 
stands,  fair  and  square)  ?  Can  It  be  said  of 
any  of  these  things,  and  of  this  attitude  of 
Emmanuelism,  that  it  is  Christian?  It  Is  as 
the  bond  slave  of  modern  science  and  scholar- 
ship that  Emmanuelism  comes ;  nevertheless, 
claiming  to  be  Christian.  It  dares  to  take 
upon  itself  the  solemn,  holy,  and  yet  prophetic 
name — Emmanuel.  Hear  how  it  confesses 
itself  under  the  tutelage  of  human  science  and 
scholarship.  In  "Religion  and  Medicine,"  page 
13,  there  is  the  official  declaration: 

"We  (the  authors,  founders,  teachers,  lead- 
ers, and  apostles  of  Emmanuelism)  have  taken 


EMMANUELISM  335 

our  stand  fairly  and  squarely  on  the  religion 
of  Christ  as  that  religion  is  revealed  in  the 
New  Testament  and  as  it  is  interpreted  by 
modern  scholarship." 

Mark  that  phrase,  "interpreted  by  modern 
scholarship."  And  God  knows  we  understand 
well  enough,  some  of  us,  how  modern  scholar- 
ship interprets  the  New  Testament  and  Christ. 
It  repudiates  the  fall  of  man,  the  virgin  birth, 
atonement,  resurrection  of  the  body,  regen- 
eration, the  Coming  of  Christ,  and  the  verbal 
and  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Bible.  We  know 
what  modern  scholarship  means.  It  means  to 
hand  the  New  Testament  over  to  the  naturalist 
and  the  modernist  in  religion,  to  the  men  who 
are  the  supreme,  rank  unbelievers  of  the  hour 
in  the  "faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the 
saints." 

How  would  you  like  a  man  to  settle  your 
father's  estate  who,  during  all  the  lifetime  of 
your  father,  had  been  engaged  in  robbing  him, 
dishonoring  his  paper,  his  writing,  his  con- 
tracts? Well,  that  is  modern  scholarship.  Its 
whole  history  is  one  of  robbery — robbing  us 
of  the  God  and  Christ  the  Bible  reveals ;  dis- 
honoring the  writings  of  the  law-givers,  the 
prophets  and  the  apostles;  testifying  to  the 
worthlessness  of  the  covenant  contracts  re- 
corded therein. 

Emmanuelism  boasts  that  it  comes  in  the 
name  of  modern  scholarship.  It  puts  Christ 
and  Christianity  under  the  dixit  of  that  schol- 


336  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

arship.  This,  of  Itself,  is  a  witness  that  it  is 
not  the  Christianity  of  Christ.  It  is  not  Chris- 
tianity at  all.  No  matter  how  much  it  may 
use  the  name  of  Christ  and  take  shelter  in  his 
church,  it  is,  simply,  a  natural  religion  in  dis- 
guise. It  is  Christian  Science  in  disguise.  It 
is  Theosophy  in  disguise.  It  is  the  religion 
of  the  psychic,  and  not  the  pneumatic,  man. 
Its  Christ  is  not  the  Christ  who  created  the 
world,  created  human  nature  for  himself, 
made  an  actual  sacrifice  in  that  nature  by 
death,  rose,  ascended  in  the  body  in  which  he 
died,  Hveth  in  divine,  human  form  on  the 
throne  of  the  tmiverse,  the  Second  Adam,  the 
new  head  of  the  race,  having  all  healing  pow- 
ers in  himself,  both  moral  and  physical.  Nay ! 
it  is  a  false  Christ,  the  Christ  of  naturalism, 
the  Christ  of  merely  human  resource.  Its 
God  is  not  the  God  of  revelation,  but  the  God 
of  nature  and  fallible  human  science.  Its 
Gospel  is  not  the  Gospel  of  the  blood  and  the 
empty  grave.  Its  Gospel  of  hope  is  the  Gos- 
pel of  auto-suggestion  (it  should  be  called 
auto-deception).  Its  enthusiasm  is  the  en- 
thusiasm of  humanity.  Its  promise,  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  natural  man  into  the  realm  of  deity. 
It  is  the  old  devil  lie  whispered  in  Eden  to 
mortal  man,  "Ye  shall  be  as  gods." 

That  is  the  relation  which  Emmanuelism 
sustains  to  New  Testament  Christianity.  It 
is,  in  final  terms,  the  repudiation  of  the  Chris- 
tianity and  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament 


EMMANUELISM  337 

What,  let  it  now  be  asked,  is  the  relation 
which  Emmanuelism  sustains  to  society? 

I  answer  it  is  one  of  menace,  of  actual  peril. 

Who  can  measure,  really,  the  extent  of  the 
peril  that  lies  in  mental  suggestion  ?  Who  can 
say  what  crimes  may  not  be  coinmitted  if  this 
science  of  mental  suggestion  and  lawless  hyp- 
notism is  permitted  to  work  ?  What  home  will 
be  safe  when  the  mental  suggestionist  enters 
where  wife  and  daughter,  as  well  as  husband 
and  son,  dwell?  Who  can  estimate  the  re- 
sults of  a  system  which  on  this  side  claims 
the  right  of  one  personality  to  invade  another, 
and  on  the  other  side  cultivates  an  attitude 
of  subjectivity  to  this  invasion?  What  does 
it  mean  but  the  opening  of  doots  for  the  pos- 
sible entrance  of  that  which  may  be  as  ter- 
ible,  if  not  worse  than  demonism?  What  a 
spectacle  when  men  and  women  shall  be  found 
living  in  a  community  possessed  by,  and  under 
the  power  and  personality  of,  another! 

It  is  a  menace,  a  peril  of  perils  to  society. 

Coming  in  the  name  of  science,  it  is  a  men- 
ace to  one  of  the  noblest  departments  of  sci- 
ence— the  science  of  medicine  itself. 

Let  this  system  spread  throughout  a  com- 
munity; let  it  become  universal  in  the  name 
of  Christ  and  the  church,  and  in  a  few  years 
all  the  science  of  the  devoted  men  who  have 
given  themselves  to  medicine  will  be  rendered 
null  and  void ;  and  who  can  measure  the  state 
of  society  when  every  freak  who  thinks  he 


338  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

has  a  call  to  arouse  the  sub-conscious  mind  in 
others  is  let  ioose  upon  the  community  with 
the  banner  cry,  "No  more  drugs,  no  medicine, 
no  more  doctors — only  mental  healing"  ? 

If  it  is  a  peril  to  society  on  merely  natural 
grounds,  what^ shall  be  said  of  it  as  a  religious 
peril  to  society?  If,  for  the  next  few  years, 
every  church  in  the  country  could  be  persuaded 
to  have  a  clerical  clinic  in  it,  there  would  be 
only  one  religious  profession  that  would  not 
be  undermined  by  it,  and  that  would  be  Chris- 
tian Science.  If  Christian  Science  wishes  to 
ruin  and  destroy  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Nev/ 
Testament  Church,  let  it  encourage  Emman- 
uelism. 

It  is  time  for  Christians  to  arouse  and  re- 
pudiate this  attempt  to  turn  the  Christian  min- 
istry into  a  body  of  hypnotists.  It  is  time  to 
repudiate  this  subtle  attempt  to  turn  the  church 
into  a  hospital  of  clerical  mind  healers  and 
auto-suggestionists.  It  is  time  to  repudiate 
the  too  open  bid  of  the  Devil  to  bring  the 
church  down  from  the  heavenly  places  in 
Christ  Jesus  and  side  track  it  amid  Theoso- 
phists,  New  Thoughtists,  Christian  Scientists, 
and  Psycho-therapists. 

It  is  time  Christians  awoke  and  heard  the 
rebuke  and  warning  of  the  Lord,  "Ye  can  dis- 
cern the  signs  of  the  skies ;  can  ye  not  discern 
the  signs  of  the  times?" 

All  this  condition  I  have  been  describing 
means  that  we  are  entering  the  last  days  of 


EMMANUELISM  339 

which  our  Lord  gives  solemn  and  precise 
warning;  those  days  in  which  many  should 
come  in  his  name  and  deceive  many. 

Emmanuelism,  like  Christian  Science,  is  one 
of  the  foretold  deceivers.  Its  growth  and  ac- 
ceptance mean  the  setting  aside  of  the  cross 
of  Christ  and  the  empty  tomb. 

It  means  turning  the  gaze  away  from  the 
only  Saviour  who  can  save  forever.  It  means 
turning  the  lost  soul  to  gaze  upon  the  false 
hope  of  its  own  self-deceived  mind  and  heart. 

It  means  the  subordination  of  the  soul  to 
the  body. 

It  means  an  unreal  salvation  in  time,  and  a 
sure  damnation  in  eternity. 

I  would  exhort  all  who  read  these  lines  to 
repudiate  Emmanuelism  and  any  false  physical 
or  spiritual  hope  it  may  hold  out  in  the  name 
of  Christ.  Turn  away  from  it  and  look  to  him 
who  in  himself  has  the  power  to  heal  both 
body  and  soul.  Turn  to  him  who,  because 
he  died  as  an  acceptable  sacrifice  for  sin,  rose 
from  the  dead,  and  now  lives  as  the  risen  head 
and  source  of  eternal  life  to  men.  Come  to 
him  as  the  poor  woman  did,  touch  him  by 
faith,  and  receive  from  him,  not  mental  sug- 
gestion, not  the  impulse  of  the  sub-conscious 
mind,  but  that  new,  that  wondrous,  that  glo- 
rious thing,  the  "divine  nature,"  which  he 
alone  can  give,  and  be  made  at  once  spiritually 
whole  with  the  virtue  that  goeth  out  of  him ; 
that  spiritual  virtue  which  is  the  assurance  of 


340  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE  TIMES 

healing  to  the  soul  now,  and  the  guaranty  of 
a  perfect  body,  in  the  day  when  he  shall  ap- 
pear and  all  his  ransomed  church  with  him. 

To  every  Christian  I  would  give  the  word 
of  warning  which  Emmanuelism  and  its  kin- 
dred deceptions  (as  signs  of  the  times)  signify 
— the  warning  that  the  Lord  is  at  hand — that 
in  an  unlooked-for  moment  he  may  secretly 
come  to  take  to  himself  those  alone  who  are 
reallv  his. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF 
COMMERCE 

and 

The  Restoration  of  Babylon 

"Then  the  angel  that  talked  with  me  went 
forth,  and  said  unto  me,  Lift  up  now  thine 
eyes,  and  see  what  is  this  that  goeth  forth. 

And  I  said.  What  is  it?  And  he  said,  This 
is  an  ephah  that  goeth  forth.  He  said  more- 
over, This  is  their  resemblance  through  all 
the  earth.  And,  behold,  there  was  lifted  up 
a  talent  of  lead ;  and  this  is  a  woman  that  sit- 
teth  in  the  midst  of  the  ephah. 

And  he  said,  This  is  wickedness.  And  he 
cast  it  into  the  midst  of  the  ephah ;  and  he  cast 
the  weight  of  lead  upon  the  mouth  thereof. 

Then  lifted  I  up  mine  eyes,  and  looked,  and, 
behold,  there  came  out  two  women,  and  the 
wind  was  in  their  wings ;  for  they  had  wings 
like  the  wings  of  a  stork ;  and  they  lifted  up 
the  ephah  between  the  earth  and  the  heaven. 

Then  I  said  to  the  angel  that  talked  with 
me,  Whither  do  these  bear  the  ephah? 

And  he  said  to  me,  To  build  it  an  house  in 
the  land  of  Shinar:  and  it  shall  be  established, 
and  set  there  upon  her  own  base." — Zechariah 
5:5-11. 


S42  THE  SIGNS  OF   THE  TIMES 

The  ephah  was  an  instrument  of  measure. 
It  was  in  the  form  of  a  box.  Its  "resemblance 
through  all  the  earth,"  to  which  the  angel 
draws  special  attention,  is  the  announcement 
that  it  is  henceforth  to  be  regarded  throughout 
the  earth  as  the  standard  of  measure. 

The  talent  is  a  sealing  weight  stamped  with 
the  image  of  a  woman  and  forming  the  lid  of 
the  box. 

The  two  women  with  the  wings  of  a  stork 
who  bear  it  away,  do  so,  that  they  may  set  it  up 
on  a  base  where  it  may  be  seen  and  recognized 
throughout  the  whole  earth  as  the  official 
standard  of  measure. 

Two  women  supporting  between  them  a 
shield,  or  anchor,  or  holding  scales,  or  some 
instrument  of  weight  or  measure,  have,  from 
time  immemorial,  been  accepted  among  all  na- 
tions as  symbols  of  commerce.  These  women, 
therefore,  draw  attention  to  a  system  of  com- 
merce, of  barter,  of  exchange  and  trade. 

The  fact  that  the  ephah  is  uplifted  and  then 
established  by  them  as  a  universal  standard  of 
measure  sets  forth  the  idea  of  a  system  of  uni- 
versal and  authoritatively  established  com- 
merce. 

If  we  turn  our  eyes  abroad  upon  the  world 
we  shall  find  that  the  one  great  object  before 
the  nations  of  the  earth  to-day  is  this  image 
of  commerce,  drawing  them  with  all  the  se- 
ductive influence  a  siren  woman  might  exercise 
upon  the  heart  of  man.     The  one  great  aim 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  343 

on  the  part  of  each  is  to  win  the  favor  of  this 
mighty  mistress.  The  world  powers  are  en- 
gaged in  a  Titanic  struggle  for  commercial 
supremacy.  To  this  end  mills  are  built,  fac- 
tories founded,  forests  felled,  lands  sown,  har- 
vests reaped  and  ships  launched.  Because  of 
this  struggle  for  the  mastery  of  the  world's 
market  the  nations  reach  out  and  extend  the'.r 
borders.  For  this  reason  Europe  has  parcelLv,! 
out  Africa.  It  is  for  this  that  France  is  at 
Casablanca  and  Spain  has  sent  fifty  thousand 
of  her  best  troops  to  Melilla.  Under  this  im- 
pulse the  treaty  of  Algeciras  was  made  and 
still  keeps  the  eyes  of  statesman  and  diplomat 
turned  now  to  Morocco,  now  to  Tunis  and 
anon  to  Algiers.  This  is  why  Japan  lays 
her  greedy,  necessitous,  lawless,  and  still  bar- 
baric, grip  on  Corea,  and  looks  with  covetous 
eyes  on  Manchuria  and  the  Philippines.  For 
this,  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  in  one  fashion 
or  another,  are  knocking  at  the  doors  of  China, 
cutting  canals  between  the  oceans,  and  survey- 
ing the  islands  of  the  sea.  It  is  this  demand 
for  commercial  headship  which  feeds  the  fires 
of  internecine  strife  among  the  Latin  republics 
of  South  America.  And  it  is  for  this  reason, 
and  this  reason  alone,  that  Dreadnaughts  and 
super-Dreadnaughts  are  being  built,  armies 
multiplied  and  arsenals  filled.  It  was  a  sug- 
gestive but  logical  spectacle  the  other  d^y 
of  her  giant  war  vessels  in  the  Thames  River. 
\\  hen  England  assembled  one  hundred  and  fifty 


344  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

anchoring  them  at  the  London  docks,  display- 
ing her  sea  power  and  giving  forth  her  com- 
mercial challenge  in  the  greatest  seaport  of 
the  world. 

The  struggle  of  commerce  brings  the  na- 
tions face  to  face,  making  it  more  and  more 
necessary  to  equalize  tariffs  and  balance  trade. 
As  the  world  becomes  geographically  smaller ; 
as  it  is  girdled  by  flashes  of  wireless  telegraphy 
and  linked  by  ocean  cables ;  as  time  is  nullified 
and  distance  destroyed ;  as  nations  talk  to,  and 
almost  touch,  each  other  across  the  once  divid- 
ing seas  and  barrier  lands ;  as  the  whisper 
breathed  in  the  markets  of  the  East  is  heard 
in  the  exchanges  of  the  West;  in  proportion 
as  the  world  consciousness  becomes  one  and 
universally  and  coincidentally  sensitive,  it  be- 
comes also  more  and  more  a  necessity  that  there 
shall  be  a  standard  of  measure  common  to 
all.  Just  as  State  banks  in  this  country  gave 
way  to  National  banks ;  as  narrow  gauge  roads 
yielded  to  broad  gauge,  so  the  nations  find 
themselves  obliged  to  break  over  their  own 
localisms  and  seek  for  this  unit  of  measure. 
And  it  is  coming.  It  is  already  here.  The 
French  metric  system  is  rapidly  assuming  the 
proportion  of  a  universal  and  accepted 
measure. 

The  need  of  commerce,  of  general  business, 
lor  a  universal  standard  of  measure,  demands 
also  a  common  and  universal  language,  a  lan- 
e^uage  that  will  make  it  possible  for  the  na- 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  34!) 

tions  to  transact  their  affairs  in  a  speech  un- 
derstood by  all.  Such  a  language  has  been 
created.  It  is  known  as  "Esperanto."  It  has 
its  grammar  and  dictionary.  Enthusiastic  con- 
ventions, with  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  discuss  and  proclaim  it  as  the  unit  of 
international  intercourse,  the  vocal  and  oral 
bond  of  a  world  fraternity,  the  perfect  tongue 
for  the  interchange  and  the  fashioning  of  com- 
mon thought. 

Every  hour  the  signs  indicate  that  this  new- 
made  language  is  outrunning,  outstripping, 
and  far  anticipating  the  announcement  of  the 
prophet,  that  the  time  should  come  when  the 
Lord  would  turn  to  the  people  a  pure  (that  is, 
universal)  language;  anticipating  the  divine 
tongue  and  fashioning  itself  apart  from  the 
hand  and  inspiration  of  the  Almighty ;  and 
thus  witnessing  that  we  are  steadily  drawing 
near  to  that  unity  of  speech  and  idea  which 
prevailed  in  the  hour  when  the  world  with  its 
pride,  its  self-sufficiency,  its  arrogance  and 
forgetfulness  of  God,  sought  to  build  a  tower 
whose  topmost  height  should  reach  to  heaven 
and  render  man  immune  from  coming  judg- 
ment. 

Steadily  the  world  is  moving  forward  along 
the  plane  of  this  unity — unity  of  measure, 
unity  of  speech  and  unity  of  commerce. 

When  Zechariah  sees  the  women  with  the 
stork  wings  bearing  away  the  ephah,  he  asks 
the  angel   with   whom  he  had   been   talking 


346  THE   SIGNS    OF    THE   TIMES 

whither  they  are  bearing  it.  The  angel  tells 
him  they  are  taking  it  to  the  land  of  Shinar, 
to  Babylonia,  to  that  spot  where  old  Babylon 
lies  in  ruins.  The  women  are  carrying  the 
ephah  there  that  they  may  build  it  a  home,  set 
it  up,  and  establish  it  on  a  recognized  base. 

As  the  women  set  forth  commerce  in  its 
activity,  and  the  ephah  the  standard  of  uni- 
versal measure,  it  is  the  definite,  angelic  dec- 
laration that  Babylon  is  to  become  the  site, 
the  base,  the  center  and,  therefore,  the  estab- 
lished and  recognized  capital  of  a  wide,  far- 
reaching  and  universal  system  of  commerce, 
a  veritable  world  kingdom  of  common  inter- 
ests. As  Babylon  was  then,  and  is  now,  over- 
thrown and  in  ruins,  it  is  the  logical  and  un- 
qualified testimony  that  Babylon  must  be  re- 
built— that  Babylon  has  yet  a  future. 

To  this  the  objection  is  made  that  Babylon, 
in  the  divine  prophecies,  was  to  be  totally  de- 
stroyed and  never  again  rebuilded  or  inhabited. 
The  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  is  quoted  as  giving 
the  details  of  its  final  destruction,  and  the 
words  of  Isaiah  as  proclaiming  its  perpetual 
desolation.  The  words  of  Isaiah,  it  is  said, 
have  been  made  good  to  the  very  letter ;  for 
two  thousand  years,  it  is  said,  Babylon  has 
been  a  complete  and  woful  ruin ;  every  pass- 
ing traveler  shuns  it;  the  Arab  will  not  pitch 
his  tent  there;  no  shepherd  will  keep  his 
flocks  there ;  it  is  the  home  of  wild  beasts ;  the 
ruins  are  the  abode  of  doleful  creatures ;  owls 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  347 

disturb  the  night  silence,  and  desolation  reigns 
supreme. 

But  the  truth  is,  Babylon  has  never  been 
made  an  entire  desolation.  The  word  of  the 
prophet  has  not  been  completely  fulfilled.  It 
was  not  fulfilled  in  the  Apostle  Peter's  day. 
In  his  first  general  epistle,  written  in  the  year 
66  of  the  Christian  era,  nearly  eight  hundred 
years  after  Isaiah's  prophecy,  he  testifies  that 
there  was  a  church  at  Babylon,  and,  conse- 
quently, a  Babylon  that  was  inhabited.  In- 
deed, there  has  never  been  a  time  since  the 
foundation  of  the  city  when  it  was  not,  in 
some  degree,  inhabited.  At  the  present  mo- 
ment the  town  of  Hillah,  a  town  of  some  fif- 
teen or  twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  is  built 
upon  its  site,  and  out  of  the  very  material,  the 
very  brick  and  stone,  of  the  ancient  city.  But, 
further,  the  prophecy  of  Zechariah  concerning 
Babylon  as  the  established  base  of  the  world's 
commerce  was  made  some  twenty  or  thirty 
years  after  Babylon  was  supposed  to  be  de- 
stroyed forever,  and  must,  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  refer  to  a  period  yet  future.  When 
we  turn  to  the  New  Testament  we  find  a  de- 
scription of  that  future  Babylon.  It  is  given 
in  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  the  Book  of  the 
Revelation.  The  Book  of  the  Revelation  pre- 
sents us  with  the  picture  of  two  distinct,  future 
Babylons — the  Mystic  and  Commercial  Baby- 
lon. ■  The  Mystic  Babylon  is  described  in  the 
seventeenth  chapter.     The  symbol  is  that  of 


348  THE  SIGNS  OF   THE  TIMES 

a  drunken,  fallen  woman  robed  in  scarlet, 
holding  in  her  hand  a  cup  of  abominations  and 
filthiness  with  which  she  has  seduced  the  na- 
tions and  led  them  into  iniquity  She  sits  upon 
a  ten-horned  beast,  itself  the  divinely  ap- 
pointed symbol  of  the  revived  Roman  empire 
under  its  final  and  coming  head,  and  the  angel 
who  interprets  the  symbol  to  John,  the  Beloved 
disciple,  says  unto  him,  "and  the  woman  thou 
sawest  in  that  great  city,  which  reigneth  over 
the  kings  of  the  earth." — Revelation  17:  18. 

The  word  Babylon  in  this  chapter  is  used 
for,  and  signifies,  Rome.  Nor  in  this  transfer 
of  one  name  for  another  is  there  anything  un- 
usual or  forced.  In  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
this  same  Revelation  the  names  Sodom  and 
Egypt  are  used  as  equivalents  for  Jerusalem, 
as  it  is  written : 

"And  their  dead  bodies  shall  lie  in  the  street 
of  the  great  city  which  spiritually  [that  is, 
symbolically]  is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt 
where  our  Lord  was  crucified"  (Jerusalem.) — 
Revelation  11:9. 

As  Jerusalem  (where  our  Lord  was  cruci- 
fied) is  spiritually  or  symbolically  called  So- 
dom and  Egypt,  equally  so  is  Rome  called 
Babylon.  That  the  Babylon  of  the  seventeenth 
chapter  of  Revelation  is  Rome  is  corrobora- 
tively  evident  from  the  characteristic  color  of 
scarlet  (the  color  both  of  Imperial  and  Papal 
Rome),  the  topographical  situation  of  the  city 
on  her  seven  hills  or  mount*    th«»  hlnnH  vfain 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  349 

of  the  saints  and  the  martyrs  of  Jesus 
(whether  at  the  hands  of  Emperors  or  Popes), 
and,  above  all,  in  the  Spirit-inspired  declara- 
tion that  it  is  the  city  reigning,  when  this  was 
written,  "over  the  kings  of  the  earth."  The 
city  that  reigned  at  the  time  when  John  in 
the  isle  of  Patmos  beheld  the  vision,  was 
Rome,  and  otily  Rome,  the  then  proud  mistress 
of  the  world.  Babylon,  therefore,  in  this  par- 
ticular chapter  of  the  Revelation  sets  forth 
Rome.  But  it  sets  it  forth  in  a  mystic  or  sym- 
bolic sense.  Mystically  and  symbolically,  it 
represents  that  false  and  corrupt  system  which 
makes  its  capital  to-day  in  the  actual  city  of 
Rome,  and  which,  after  the  true  Church  (sym- 
bolized by  the  New  Jerusalem)  shall  have 
been  translated  from  earth  to  heaven  to  meet 
the  Lord  as  the  descending  Bridegroom,  will 
become  the  depositary  of  all  the  odds  and 
ends,  all  the  philosophy  and  infidelity  of  a  re- 
jected Protestantism,  and  will,  for  a  time,  be- 
come the  world's  accepted  religion  of  state 
till,  at  an  ordained  moment.  Antichrist  shall 
turn  upon  it,  trample  it  beneath  the  feet  of 
his  kings  and  destroy  it  forever. 

This  is  mystic  Babylon,  casting  its  shadow 
religiously  over  the  earth  to-day  in  the  in- 
creased power  of  Romanism  and  the  steady 
down-grade  of  Protestantism ;  the  shadowy 
forecast  of  the  hybrid  combination  that  is  yet 
to  dominate  the  earth  for  a  space. 
Mn  the  eighteenth  chapter  we  have  neither 


350  THE  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

symbolic  Babylon  nor  actual  Rome,  but  the 
real  and  actual  city  of  Babylon. 

The  proof  that  this  is  not  the  Babylon  of 
the  preceding  chapter  is  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  in  that  chapter  the  ten  kings  hate 
the  mystic  Babylon  and  "make  her  desolate 
and  naked,  and  shall  eat  her  flesh,  and  burn 
her  with  fire"  (Revelation  17 :  16)  ;  while  the 
"kings  of  the  earth"  (and  these  are  the  same 
kings,  the  ten  kings  of  the  seventeenth  chap- 
ter) bewail  and  lament  when  they  see  the 
burning  and  destruction  of  the  Babylon  of  the 
eighteenth  chapter,  and  say,  "Alas,  alas,  that 
great  city  Babylon,  that  mighty  city"  (Reve- 
lation ^18:  8-10).  • 

Surely,  the  Babylon  that  is  "hated"  and 
"burned"  in  the  one  chapter  cannot  be  the 
Babylon  whose  burning  and  destruction  are 
lamented  and  bewailed  in  the  next  chapter — 
and  that  lamentation  and  bewailing  by  the 
very  kings  who  hated,  burned  and  destroyed 
the  Babylon  of  the  preceding  chapter. 

These  Babylons  are  distinct. 

The  Babylon  of  the  seventeenth  chapter  is 
the  ecclesiastical  system  now  centered  at 
Rome,  and  to  be  the  state  religion  of  Anti- 
christ for  a  time.  The  Babylon  of  the  eight- 
eenth chapter  is  the  actual  Babylon  of  the  fu- 
ture. That  there  is  a  similarity  of  statement 
concerning  them,  as,  for  example,  the  "purple 
and  scarlet,  the  gold  and  precious  stones," 
common  to  both,  is  true  simply  because  both 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  351 

cities,  actual  Rome  and  actual  Babylon,  a. 
to  be  identified  with  Antichrist,  the  one  ecclesi- 
astically, the  other  commercially  and  polit- 
ically, each  forming-  part  of  the  immense  world 
system  that  is  to  precede  the  coming  and  king- 
dom of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  eighteenth  chapter  gives  us  the  Baby- 
lon which  Zechariah  sees  as  the  base  or  center 
of  the  world's  final  commerce,  the  city  whose 
destruction  and  perpetual  desolation  both  Jere- 
miah and  Isaiah  foretold. 

According  to  the  Word  of  God,  this  resur- 
rected Babylon  will  be  an  immense  city.  It 
is  called  Babylon  the  Great  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  former  Babylon,  the  Babylon  cf 
Nebuchadnezzar,  known  as  Great  Babylon, 
which  he  builded.  This  will  be  Babylon  the 
Great,  the  supreme,  the  final.  It  will  be  a  city 
of  buying  and  selling  for  the  whole  earth. 
In  it  will  be  the  merchandise  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver, of  precious  stones  and  pearls,  of  purple 
silk  and  costly  wools.  There  will  be  displayed 
vessels  of  use  and  vessels  of  art;  vessels  of 
wood  and  brass  and  iron  and  marble.  There 
will  be  bazaars  filled  with  cinnamon  and  fra- 
grant odours,  ointment  and  frankincense,  wine 
and  oil,  fine  flour  and  wheat.  Markets  will 
be  crowded  with  cattle,  sheep  and  horses. 
There  will  be  vast  manufactories  for  the  pro- 
duction of  every  conceivable  form  of  fast  fly- 
ing vehicles.  There  will  be  merchandise  of 
bodies  and  souls.    Women  will  sell  their  bodies 


352  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE   TIMES 

as  of  yore  and  men  will  sell  their  souls.  It 
will  be  a  city  of  exchange,  of  trade,  of  manu- 
facture, of  construction  and  art.  All  that  the 
desire  of  man  can  suggest,  all  that  his  lust 
may  covet,  all  that  genius  can  invent,  and  all 
that  the  power  of  money  can  produce,  will  be 
there. 

It  will  be  a  city  of  untold  riches,  of  astound- 
ing extent  of  capital.  It  will  be  made  a  port 
of  entry  (the  old  canals  will  be  deepened)  ; 
ships  of  the  heaviest  tonnage  will  anchor  at 
its  wharves.  Its  docks  will  be  piled  with  the 
world's  output.  Whatever  has  been  grown, 
or  cultivated,  or  made,  traded,  or  discovered, 
will  be  found  unloaded  and  loading  from  the 
great  leviathans  of  the  outer  deeps. 

It  will  be  a  city  given  over  to  pleasure  as 
well  as  to  business.  There  will  be  riotous  joy 
and  ceaseless  feasting.  The  blood  will  be  hot 
in  the  veins,  wealth  will  flow  as  from  foun- 
tains, the  lust  of  the  eyes,  the  lust  of  the  flesh, 
and  the  pride  of  life,  will  find  unexampled  em- 
phasis within  its  borders.  The  round  of  busi- 
ness will  be  rhythmed  by  the  round  of  pleasure, 
self-gratification  and  ever-enlarging  desire. 
Money  will  be  the  god,  pleasure  the  high- 
priest,  and  unchecked  passion,  the  ritual  of 
worship. 

It  will  be  a  city  of  music.  Amid  the  thun- 
der, crash,  and  din  of  business,  will  'be  heard 
the  harmonies  of  vocal  and  instrumental  music. 
There  will  be  heard  the  voice  of  "harpers,  and 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  353 

musicians,  and  of  pipers  and  trumpeters."  The 
world's  best  singers  and  players  will 
be  there.  The  congested  wealth  of  the 
earth  will  draw  the  genius  both  of  voice 
and  hand. 

It  will  be  not  only  the  capital  of  busi- 
ness, the  theatre  of  trade,  the  arena  of 
exchange,  the  supreme  conservatory  of 
music,  the  center  of  art,  the  whirlpool  of 
mad  and  maddening  excess,  it  will  be,  also, 
the  headquarters  of  the  world's  most  advanced 
and  most  imposing  occultism.  The  curiosity 
of  the  West  and  the  fatalistic  mysticism  of 
the  East  will  center  there  and  bring  about  the 
most  tremendous  manifestation  from  the  un- 
seen world  ever  recorded  in  human  history.  It 
will  be  the  rendezvous  of  all  the  expert  me- 
diums of  the  earth.  Those  who  desire  to  con- 
sult the  dead  will  go  there.  Just  as  men  and 
women  now  go  to  Paris  for  fashion  and  sen- 
suous pleasures,  so  multitudes  will  flock  to 
Babylon  to  seek  connection  with  the  dead, 
with  spirits  from  the  beyond.  Demons,  dis- 
embodied souls,  unclean  spirits,  will  find  at 
Babylon  the  supreme  opportunity  to  material- 
ize themselves  through  chosen  agents,  to  de- 
ceive, intoxicate,  and  lead  captive  the  children 
of  men. 

Babylon,  it  is  said,  shall  become  "the  habi- 
tation of  devils  [demons]  and  the  hold  [head- 
quarters] of  every  foul  spirit."  The  gates  of 
Hades  will  be  opened  and  shoals  of  lost  spirits 


354  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

will  float  upward  from  the  lower  regions  to 
the  city,  while  from  the  dark  abysses  of  tlic 
atmospheric  heavens  the  rebel  spirits  of  old 
time  will  once  more  descend  to  revel  amid 
earth's  affairs,  and  rejoice  for  a  space  in  the 
world's  surrender  to  sensualism  and  limitless 
sin. 

It  will  be,  at  once,  the  most  beautiful  and 
the  most  wanton  of  cities.  The  wealth  that 
wall  flood  into  it  will  enable  men  to  build  like 
princes.  The  skill  of  modern  construction  will 
seek  to  outvie  the  ancient  splendors.  Great 
as  were  the  tower  of  Belus  and  the  hanging 
gardens ;  marvellous  as  were  the  marble  quays 
and  colonnaded  streets  ;  astounding  as  were  the 
palaces  and  colossal  the  walls  of  former  times, 
the  new  Babylon  will  easily  surpass  them  all 
in  i.ts  wonders,  its  wickedness  and  beauty.  If 
ever  there  can  be  a  time  when  sin  may  be  suc- 
cessfully plated  with  gold,  and  vice  may  be 
made  to  appear  as  noble  as  virtue,  it  will  be 
then. 

Its  topographical  situation,  like  that  of  Chi- 
cago, will  make  it  the  railway  center  of  the 
old  continents  of  Europe  and  Asia.  Commerce 
will  no  longer  necessitously  plod  the  slow 
route  of  the  Suez  Canal,  but  move  on  lines 
of  direct  communication.  ]\IeDchandise  will 
be  shipped  from  London  and  Paris  to  Baby- 
lon. There  will  be  through  rates  from  New 
York,  Tokio  and  Canton.  North  and  South, 
East  and  West,  will  pour  the  wealth  of  the 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  355 

world's  traffic  here ;  from  hence  it  will  be  dis- 
tributed to  the  earth's  circumference. 

Babylon  will  have  become  the  commercial 
capital  of  the  world. 

And  this  Babylon  will  be  ruled  and  con- 
trolled by  a  supreme  master  mind,  a  man  who 
shall  combine  in  himself  all  the  varied  genius 
of  the  human  race.  He  will  be  soldier  and 
statesman,  orator  and  financier,  scientist  and 
demagogue,  tyrant  and  liberalist,  leading 
armies  and  addressing  conventions,  making 
treaties  and  breaking  them.  Honored  and 
feared,  worshipped  and  hated,  he  it  is  who 
shall  be  the  founder  of  new  Babylon,  its  civic 
ruler,  king  by  title,  undisputed  head  of  com- 
merce, and  king  of  the  actual  kingdom  of  com- 
merce. Master  of  the  East,  both  by  reason  of 
commercial  relations  and  military  success,  he 
will  receive  from  western  Europe  a  call  to  arbi- 
trate its  turbulent  afifairs,  and,  in  the  end,  will 
be  exalted  by  unanimous  consent  to  be  a  sort 
of  king  of  kings,  the  recognized  head  over  the 
powers  now  dwelling  in  the  territory  once  oc- 
cupied by  imperial  Rome.  To  the  titles  king 
of  Babylon,  king  of  Assyria,  will  be  added 
that  of  Prince  of  Rome.  It  will  be  a  political 
miracle — the  sudden  resurrection  of  the  Rome 
of  the  Caesars,  outreaching  the  dream  of  a 
Napoleon  or  the  effort  of  a  Charlemagne,  and 
once  more  making  the  fourth  empire  of 
prophecy  the  dominant  power  in  the  earth. 

Rome  on  her  seven  hills  in  the  West  will 


356  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE   TIMES 

be  the  acknowledged  capital,  where  for  a  time 
this  startling  person  will  sustain  and  advocate 
Romanism  with  all  its  adjuncts  of  Judaism, 
Paganism,  corrupt  Protestantism,  Socialism, 
demonism  and  material  philosophy ;  but  Baby- 
lon will  remain  the  unquestioned  commercial 
capital  from  whence  he  shall  dictate  the  climac- 
teric politics  of  the  age. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  divine  record  to 
the  last,  this  man's  shadow  falls  athwart  the 
sacred  page.  We  find  that  shadow  in  Nimrod, 
the  mighty  hunter,  whose  kingdom  began  at 
Babel.  We  see  it  in  Pharaoh,  who  persecuted 
the  people  of  God  in  Egypt ;  in  Saul,  the  false 
and  demon  possessed  king  of  Israel;  in 
Nebuchadnezzar,  the  golden  head  of  the  Gen- 
tile image ;  in  the  first  Herod,  who  would  have 
killed  the  infant  Christ ;  in  the  last  Herod,  who 
exalted  himself  as  a  god  and  was  smitten  with 
sudden  death;  in  the  conqueror  on  the  white 
horse  going  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer ; 
and,  finally,  in  that  wild  beast  after  whom  all 
the  world  wonders,  and  who  opens  his  mouth 
that  he  may  blaspheme  God. 

He  is  presented  to  us  in  the  Word  of  God 
under  many  and  varied  names ;  not  only  is 
he  known  as  "king  of  Babylon,"  as  the 
"Assyrian,"  as  "the  king,"  as  the  "man  who 
maketh  the  earth  to  tremble,"  as  the  "shaker 
of  the  nations,"  "the  dragon  in  the  sea,"  "the 
man  who  heapeth  the  nations  to  himself,"  "the 
king    of    fierce    countenance"    possessing    a 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  357 

strange  god,  he  whom  the  Son  of  God  saith 
should  "come  in  his  own  name,"  and  scores  ef 
other  titles  for  which  there  is  no  space  here, 
but  he  whom  we  also  know  as  "the  man  of 
sin"  of  Paul,  "the  son  of  perdition,"  "the 
wicked  one,"  and  whom  John,  the  Beloved 
disciple,  names  as  "the  Antichrist." 

Babylon  and  Antichrist! 

The  two  are  indissolubly  linked  together. 

They  are  as  linked  together  as  Jerusalem 
and  Christ. 

So  surely  as  Christ  will  yet  come  to  Jerusa- 
lem, so  surely  will  Antichrist  precede  him  s^i^-i 
come  to  Babylon, 

It  is  as  certain  as  the  sun  in  heaven,  as  set- 
tled as  the  thrwie  of  God  above  the  sun,  that 
Jerusalem  will  be  "builded  upon  her  own 
heap,"  that  "the  city  shall  be  built  to  the  Lord 
from  the  tower  of  Hananeel  and  to  the  gate 
of  the  corner,"  and  that  "it  shall  not  be  plucked 
up,  nor  thrown  down,  any  more  forever." — 
Jeremiah  31:  38-40. 

It  is  just  as  sure,  just  as  certain,  that  Baby- 
lon will  be  rebuilded,  established  upon  her 
own  base,  as  the  city  of  the  false  Christ,  the 
world's  "coming  man,"  the  world's  long-ex- 
pected god. 

And  certain  events  now  taking  place  in  the 
East  bear  witness  that  the  day  of  Babylon  is 
at  hand,  yes,  that  it  is  at  the  very  doors. 

A  notable  sign  that  calls  for  reading  with 
wide-open  eyes  is  the  endeavor  that  Germany 


358  THE   SIGNS    OF    THE   TIMES 

has  been  making  to  build  a  railway  to  the  East 
through  Bagdad  to  Babylon,  and  the  dream  of 
the  German  Emperor  concerning  Germany's 
commercial  supremacy  in  the  East. 

William  of  Germany  has  dreamed  of  the 
possibility  of  a  German  railway  from  Ham- 
burg to  the  Persian  gulf;  a  railway  running 
through  the  fertile  plains  of  Shinar,  enabling 
him  to  outstep  England,  checkmate  Russia, 
and  anticipate  the  on-sweep  of  Japan  to  con- 
trol the  affairs  of  China  and  the  East. 

It  was  this  desire  which  made  him  and 
Abdul  Hamid  of  Turkey  the  closest  of  politi- 
cal friends.  The  German  Emperor's  desire 
to  get  into  the  prophetic  land  of  Shinar  has 
been  the  making  of  strange  policies  in  the 
Yildiz  palace  on  the  Bosphorus  and  the  white 
palace  on  the  Spree.  The  Drag  ncxh  Osten, 
the  on-sweep  to  the  East,  led  Germany  into  a 
compact  with  Turkey.  William  would  stand 
by  Abdul  in  Crete  if  Abdul  would  grant  him 
the  right  to  build  a  railway  across  his  domin- 
ions to  the  Persian  gulf.  Abdul  Hamid  con- 
sented. He  gave  the  Emperor  a  royal  conces- 
sion. He  gave  him  permission  to  build  a  rail- 
way from  Hadir  Pasha  on  the  Asiatic  side  of 
the  Bosphorus,  through  Anatolia,  over  the 
Taurus  mountains  to  Adana  and  Aleppo; 
thence  through  southern  Kurdistan  to  Nineveh 
on  the  Tigris  River ;  thence  along  the  historic 
river  to  Bagdad.  The  line  was  then  to  con- 
tinue south  via  Babylon  (mark  that!  via  Baby- 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  359 

Ion),   Kerbela  and   Bosra   to  Koweit   on   the 
Persian  gulf. 

The  German  and  Austrian  railways  are 
practically  one.  Travelers  can  go  now  from 
Hamburg  to  Constantinople  and  breathe  Ger- 
man air,  hear  German  speech,  and  be  conducted 
by  German  officials  all  the  way.  On  the  Asi- 
atic side  work  has  been  progressing  rapidly, 
bridges  have  been  built,  grades  made,  stations 
erected  and  tracks  laid.  Steadily  the  road, 
itself  German  territory,  with  conceded  German 
territory  for  a  wide  distance  on  either  side,  has 
been  pushing  the  flashing  steel  towards  Baby- 
lon and  all  the  productive  wealth  of  the  Tigris 
and  Euphratean  valleys.  Steadily  the  Ger- 
man on-sweep  has  been  echoing  on  its  w^ay 
to  the  East,  and  the  ring  of  every  German 
car  wheel  on  the  fresh-laid  tracks  has  been 
echoing  the  name  of  Babylon,  and  singing  in 
the  ears  of  the  German  Emperor  the  song  of 
commercial  dominion,  the  kaisereich  of  the 
world. 

That  railroad  meant  Berlin  transferred  to 
Babylon ;  it  meant  a  Berlin-Babylon. 

But  England  was  following  the  trail ;  every 
blow  that  drove  a  spike  in  the  crossties  struck 
a  blow  against  the  back  door  of  India,  gave 
warning  that  the  Mediterranean  would  no 
longer  be  a  British  lake,  and  seemed  to 
prophesy  of  rusted  locks  and  crumbling  walls 
on  the  Suez  Canal.  One  day,  therefore,  Eng- 
land stepped  right  across  the  projected  road, 


360  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

made  a  treaty  with  an  insignificant  kaliph  ol 
an  insignificant  province,  and  flung  her  flag 
and  her  threat  across  the  prophetic  and  cov- 
eted route  to  the  East.  Germany's  Dread- 
naughts  had  not  then  grown  high  enough  to 
loom  in  English  vision,  and  Germany,  as  such, 
for  a  while  came  to  a  halt.  But  the  road  is 
ordained  by  God  and  nature.  Babylon  is  the 
magnet,  and  Babylon  calls.  At  this  present 
moment  a  company  of  American  capitalists, 
among  them  the  most  representative  financiers 
of  America,  are  about  to  invest  one  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  in  railway  construction 
through  Asiatic  Turkey  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  exploiting  the  rich  mineral  and  oil 
fields  of  Kurdistan  and  the  Tigris  and  Eu- 
phrates valleys.  A  section  of  the  road  will 
run  from  Sivas,  in  the  province  of  Sivas,  south 
and  west  to  the  Mediterranean  at  the  Gulf  of 
Iskanaeroon,  tapping  the  rich  export  city  of 
Aleppo  on  the  way.  A  sea  terminal  will  be 
built  at  Suediah,  about  ninety  miles  from 
Aleppo.  At  Sivas  connection  will  be  made 
with  a  branch  going  to  the  Black  Sea.  Con- 
cessions from  the  Turkish  government  cover 
some  twelve  hundred  miles.  The  concession 
calls  for  rapid  construction,  and  the  line  will 
be  swiftly  pushed  towards  Babylon.  In  addi- 
tion, there  is  this  startling  fact  that  the  great 
English  engineer  who  built  the  Assouam  dam 
in  Egypt,  now  changing  the  face  and  the  cli- 
mate of  that  country,  has  been  called  to  make 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  361 

surveys  in  the  Euphratean  valley  and  about 
Babylon,  and  has  been  authorized  to  sketch 
out  the  plans  and  begin  the  initial  work  of  a 
colossal  scheme  of  irrigation  which  shall  re- 
peat on  a  gigantic  scale  the  canal  system  of 
ancient  days.  English  capital  is  flowing  Baby- 
lonward.  All  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  be- 
ginning to  find  themselves  under  the  spell. 

The  nations  are  converging  towards  Baby- 
lon. 

The  Western  nations  in  their  on-rush  to  the 
East,  the  Eastern  nations  in  their  on-rush  to 
the  West. 

Babylon  is  the  predestined  and  fatalistic 
center. 

The  cphah  is  being  carried  to  the  land  of 
Shinar. 

The  stork-winged  women  are  drawing  near 
to  the  ordained  base  that  they  may  set  it  up 
and  establish  it  thereon. 

Commerce  is  becoming  a  universal  kingdom. 

The  nations  are  taking  their  place  in  the 
kingdom. 

The  sceptre  is  going  to  Babylon. 

The  sceptre  is  capital,  and  capital  is  on  the 
move  to  Babylon. 

Babylon !  if  we  had  ears  to  hear  it — that  is 
the  supreme  word  now  on  the  lips  of  prophecy. 

Not  Jerusalem,  but  Babylon. 

And  all  this  is  a  sign  plain  enough  to  be 
read  by  him  who  runs. 


362  THE    SIGNS   OF    THE    TIMES 

It  is  a  sign  that  the  Coming  of  the  Lord 
draweth  nigh. 

Look  at  it ! 

Before  the  Appearing  of  Christ  in  glory  the 
kingdom  of  Antichrist  will  be  set  up.  Before 
Antichrist's  kingdom  reaches  the  full,  com- 
merce must  form  itself  into  a  world  power — 
a  kingdom — the  nations  partners  therein.  Be- 
fore Jerusalem  is  revealed  as  the  city  of  the 
Great  King,  the  false  Christ  must  be  enthroned 
at  Babylon. 

Now  look  closer! 

Before  Christ  appears  in  glory  he  must 
secretly,  and  without  warning,  snatch  away 
his  church  from  the  earth  to  meet  himself  in 
heaven. 

If,  then,  the  signs  of  the  times  indicate  that 
the  day  of  Babylon  is  at  hand,  and,  conse- 
quently, the  day  of  Antichrist;  if  the  day  of 
Antichrist  precedes  the  Appearing  of  Christ, 
and  the  secret  rapture  of  the  church  precedes 
the  revelation  of  Antichrist,  then  how  tremen- 
dously do  these  startling  signs,  now  on  the 
horizon,  which  speak  of  the  building  up  of 
Babylon,  the  throne  of  Antichrist,  bear  witness 
that,  as  Christians,  we  stand  on  the  quivering 
threshold  of  the  imminent  Coming  of  the 
Lord.  How  authoritatively  do  these  signs  bid 
us  to  see  to  it  that  our  lamps  are  trimmed  and 
burning,  and  that  we  have  oil  in  the  vessels 
as  well  as  in  the  lamps.  How  warningly  does 
the  Master's  r^buk?  to  the  professedly  relig- 


THE    KINGDOM   OF    COMMERCE  363 

ious  people  of  his  day,  "ye  can  discern  the 
face  of  the  sky;  but  can  ye  not  discern  the 
signs  of  the  times  ?"  come  to  us ;  and  how  im- 
pressively, as  never  before,  sound  the  words 
of  his  exhortation: 

"Watcli  ye  therefore ;  for  ye  know  not  when 
the  master  of  the  house  cometh,  at  even,  or 
at  midnight,  or  at  the  cockcrowing,  or  in  the 
morning ; 

Lest  coming  suddenly,  he  find  you  sleeping. 

And  what  I  say  unto  you  [to  the  disciples 
of  that  hour],  I  say  unto  all  [the  church  of 
this  hour],  watch/' — Mark  13:  34-37. 


THE  SCARLET  WOMAN 

OR 

The  Revival  of  Romanism 

"So  he  carried  me  away  in  the  spirit  into  the 
wilderness.  And  I  saw  a  woman  sit  upon  a 
scarlet  colored  beast,  full  of  names  of  blas- 
phemy, having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns. 

"And  the  woman  was  arrayed  in  purple  and 
scarlet  color,  and  decked  with  gold  and  pre- 
cious stones,  and  pearls,  having  a  golden  cup 
in  her  hand  full  of  abominations  and  filthiness 
of  her  fornication : 

"And  upon  her  forehead  was  a  name  writ- 
ten, MYSTERY,  BABYLON  THE  GREAT, 
THE  MOTHER  OF  HARLOTS  AND 
ABOMINATIONS  OF  THE  EARTH. 

"And  I  saw  the  woman  drunken  with  the 
blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  of  Jesus :  and  when  I  saw  her  I 
wondered  with  great  admiration.  *  *  *  And 
the  woman  which  thou  sawest  is  that  great 
city  which  reigneth  over  the  kings  of  the 
earth."— Revelation  17:  1-6,  18. 

A  woman  in  scripture  is  a  symbol  of  the 
church. 

The  church,  under  the  figure  of  a  woman, 
is   first  espoused,   and  then  presented,   as   a 


THE  SCARLET  WOMAN  365 

chaste  virgin  to  Christ.  "I  have  espoused  you 
to  one  husband,  that  I  may  present  you  as  a 
chaste  virgin  to  Christ" — II.  Corinthians, 
11:12. 

What  is  written  to  the  Corinthian  church  is 
written  to  "all  that  in  every  place  call  upon  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  both  theirs  and 
ours." — I.  Corinthians  1 :2. 

The  announcement  of  the  virginal  character 
of  the  Corinthian  church  in  its  standing  be- 
fore God,  is  an  affirmation  as  to  the  standing 
of  the  church  in  "every  place,"  necessarily  in 
all  time,  and,  therefore,  of  the  church  every- 
where, and  in  our  time. 

It   is   a  symbol   of  the   church   universal. 

The  woman  is  the  church. 

The  church  is  also  symbolized  by  a  city. 

"And  there  came  unto  me  one  of  the  seven 
angels  which  had  the  seven  vials  full  of  the 
seven  last  plagues,  and  talked  with  me,  saying, 
Come  hither,  I  will  shew  thee  the  bride,  the 
Lamb's  wife. 

"And  he  carried  me  away  in  the  spirit  to  a 
great  and  high  mountain,  and  shewed  me  that 
great  city,  the  holy  Jerusalem,  descending  out 
of  heaven  from  God." — Revelation  21 :9,  10. 

The  Lamb  is  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife,  when  espoused 
and  presented  to  him,  must  have  been  a  chaste 
virgin.  The  chaste  virgin  espoused  and  pre- 
sented by  Paul  to  Christ,  is  the  church.  As 
the  holy  city  is  the  bride  of  Christ,  his  wife 


366  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

and,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  must  have  been 
espoused  and  presented  to  him  as  a  chaste  vir- 
gin, and  the  chaste  virgin  when  so  espoused 
and  presented  becomes  a  bride,  a  wife,  then 
the  holy  city,  the  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife,  the 
wife  of  Christ,  is  a  symbol  of  the  church,  A 
chaste  virgin,  a  bride,  a  wife,  is  a  woman ;  and 
as  the  city  is  the  symbol  of  a  wife,  then  the 
city  is  the  symbol  of  a  woman.  As  the  woman 
is  the  symbol  of  the  church,  and  the  church  is 
symbolized  by  a  city,  then  the  woman  is,  also, 
a  symbol  of  the  city.  The  woman  is  a  symbol 
of  the  city,  the  city  is  a  symbol  of  the  woman, 
and  both  the  woman  and  the  city,  symbols  of 
the  church;  and  thus,  whether  it  be  a  woman 
or   a  city,  the  one  identifies  the  other. 

But  it  is  evident  that  while  the  woman  is 
exclusively  a  symbol,  and  not  a  real  woman, 
the    city  is  both  a  symbol  and  an  actual  city. 

The  city  is  a  symbol. 

The  city  is  the  symbol  of  a  woman,  and  as  a 
woman  is  an  organized  body,  and  is  the  sym- 
bol of  the  church,  then  the  city  is  the  sym- 
bol of  the  church  as  an  organized  body,  a 
polity,  a  system. 

The  city  is  actual. 

A  city  consists  of  people  and  the  place  in 
which  people  dwell. 

The  church  as  an  organized  body,  a  polity,  a 
system,  consists  of  people  and,  as  such,  must 
have  a  place  to  dwell.  When,  therefore,  the 
Apostle  John  in  vision  sees  the  holy  city  as 


THE   SCARLET   WOMAN  367 

the  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife,  he  sees  that  city 
both  as  the  people  and  the  place  in  which  they 
dwell ;  and  the  name  of  the  city  includes  them 
both.  Just  as  New  York  signifies  the  people 
and  the  city  in  which  they  dwell,  so  the  holy 
city,  the  New  Jerusalem,  signifies  the  church 
as  a  polity,  a  system,  a  body  of  people,  and  the 
real  and  actual  place,  the  real  and  actual  city 
in  which,  as  real  and  actual  people,  they  shall 
dwell,  and  from  whence  they  shall  shine  forth 
as  the  glorified  bride  of  Christ,  the  triumphant 
wife  of  the  Lamb. 

In  the  scripture  quoted  at  the  head  of  this 
article  we  have  the  picture  of  a  woman,  and 
this  woman  declared  to  be  a  city. 

What  is  true  of  the  woman  who  is  the 
Lamb's  bride,  who  is  also  a  city,  is  equally  true 
of  this  woman  who  is  called  a  city. 

The  woman  is  exclusively  a  symbol,  she  is 
not  a  real  woman ;  the  city  is  both  symbolic  and 
actual. 

By  the  preceding  evidence  of  symbolry  this 
scarlet-clad  woman  and  the  city,  where  of  ne- 
cessity she  must  be  centralized,  where  she  must 
dwell,  and  from  which  she  must  be  manifested 
in  her  power,  both  represent  a  church. 

But  this  woman  and  this  city  stand  in  ter- 
rific contrast  to  the  woman  and  city  which  set 
forth  the  church  of  Christ. 

They  contrast  and  contradict  each  other. 

The  church  is  represented  by  a  chaste  virgin. 


368  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

This  woman  is  a  bedizened  harlot,  and  is 
called  in  plain  speech,  "the    whore." 

The  church  is  espoused  to  one  husband. 

This  woman  holds  promiscuous  commerce 
with  the  kings  of  the  earth. 

The    church  is  the  mystery  of  godliness. 

This  woman  is  "MYSTERY,  BABYLON." 

The  church  is  called  "the  pillar  and  ground 
of  the  truth." 

This  woman  is  called  "Babylon,"  signifies 
"confusion,"  and  recalls  an  unfinished  tower. 

The  church  offers  the  cup  of  salvation  and 
stands  for  holiness. 

This  woman  holds  in  her  hand  a  golden  cup 
full  of  abominations  and  filthiness. 

The  church  is  the  mother  of  the  saints. 

This  woman  is  "THE  MOTHER  OF 
HARLOTS." 

The  church  is  the  bride  of  Christ. 

This  woman,  by  the  law  of  symbolry,  is  a 
professed  church  of  Christ,  and  therefore  a 
would-be  bride  of  Christ ;  but,  as  she  is  a  har- 
lot, she  cannot  be  the  true  bride  of  Christ,  she 
cannot  be  the  true  church  of  Christ.  If  she  is 
not  the  true  church  of  Christ  but  a  corrupt  and 
corrupting  harlot,  then  she  is  a  false  and  cor- 
rupt church  professing  the  name  of  Christ. 

The  identity  of  this  false  and  corrupt 
church  is  not  far  to  seek. 

She  is  called  a  city,  a  city  that  "reigneth 
over  the  kings  of  the  earth." 

A  city  that  reigns  over  the  kings  of  the 


THE   SCARLET   WOMAN  369 

earth  is  a  universal  city.  A  universal  city  is  a 
catholic  city.  As  this  universal-cathoHc  city 
is,  also,  symboHcally,  a  woman,  and  this  woman 
a  professed  church,  then  this  woman  is  a  uni- 
versal, a  catholic  church. 

This  universal,  this  catholic  church,  is  repre- 
sented as  exceedingly  rich  in  gold,  in  precious 
stones  and  pearls. 

The  distinctive  color  of  the  woman  is  scar- 
let. 

She  has  not  only  committed  fornication  her- 
self, but  has  made  the  inhabitants  drunk  with 
the  wine  of  her  fornication.  Fornication  in  the 
book  of  the  Revelation  signifies  idolatry,  and 
idolatry  is — image  worship. 

This  woman,  therefore,  is  a  church  whose 
official  and  distinguishing  color  is  scarlet. 
Just  as  our  schools,  colleges  and  universities, 
have  their  colors,  so  this  church  has  hers — 
and  her  color  is  scarlet. 

This  woman  is  a  church  which  practises, 
and  has  taught  the  people  of  the  earth  to  prac- 
tise, idolatry,  to  engage  in  the  worship  of  im- 
ages. 

This  scarlet-clad  woman  is  drunken  with 
the  blood  of  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  of  Jesus. 

It  is  the  picture  of  a  universal,  a  catholic, 
church,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  causing  the  mar- 
tyrdom of  the  followers  of  Christ,  and  revelling 
in  their  blood  till  she  has  become  frenzied  and 
drunken  by  it.     This  woman  not  only  reprq- 


370  THE   SIGNS    OF    THE   TIMES 

sents  a  church,  but  the  city  in  which  it  dwells 
and  is  capitalized,  the  center  and  manifestation 
of  its  glory.  Just  as  much  as  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem represents  not  only  the  church,  but  the 
central  place  where  she  is  to  reveal  her  glory, 
so  this  woman  represents  the  actual  city  of 
her  own  abode. 

The  reality  and  identity  of  the  city  are  set 
before  us  with  indelible  marks.  The  Apostle 
John  says  it  is  "that  great  city,  which  reigneth 
over  the  kings  of  the  earth." 

'There  was  but  one  city  in  John's  day  which 
reigned  over  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  that 
city  was  ROME. 

That  the  city  was  Rome  is  corroborated 
topographically.  We  are  told  that  the  woman 
is  seated  on  seven  mountains. 

"The  seven  heads  (that  is,  of  the  beast)  are 
seven  mountains.  And  there  are  (they  are) 
seven  kings."    Revelation.    17:9,10. 

The  heads  are  symbolic,  but  they  set  forth 
two  real  things,  mountains  and  kings.  If  the 
kings  are  real,  equally  so  are  the  mountains ; 
the  mountains  indicate  the  place  where  the 
kings  rule.  The  location  of  the  kings,  the  lo- 
cation of  the  woman  and,  therefore,  the  lo- 
cation of  the  city,  was  on  seven  mountains. 

The  Rome  of  Saint  John's  day,  the  Rome  of 
our  day,  is  seated  on  seven  hills,  and  these  hills 
are  definitely  called  mountains ;  but  the  city  is 
known  in  the  pages  of  every  history  as  "the 
seven-hilled  city." 


THE    SCARLET   WOMAN  371 

The  city,  then,  which  the  woman  symbolizes 
is  Rome ;  and  as  the  woman  is  also  the  symbol 
of  a  church,  then  you  have  a  church  in  the  city 
of  Rome,  a  church  which,  like  the  city,  is  uni- 
versal and  catholic  in  its  rule.  A  church  in  the 
city  of  Rome  is  a  Roman  church ;  a  catholic 
church  in  Rome  is,  therefore,  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church.  And  here  you  have  the  riddle  read, 
the  symbol  told,  the  identity  disclosed.  The 
woman  foreseen  and  described  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  in  John  is,  THE  ROMAN  CATHO- 
LIC CHURCH. 

As  the  name  of  the  woman  is  Babylon,  and 
the  woman  is,  symbolically,  the  city,  the  name 
of  the  city  must,  also,  be  Babylon;  but,  as  the 
city  is  actual  Rome  and  not  the  real  city  of 
Babylon,  then  the  name  Babylon  is  given  to  it, 
as  to  the  woman,  simply  to  set  forth  the  moral 
character  of  both. 

In  Revelation,  11:18.,  Jerusalem  is  called 
Sodom  and  Egypt,  so  called  to  mark  its  moral 
and  spiritual  degeneration.  This  woman  and 
city  likewise  go  by  the  name  of  Babylon  to  set 
forth  the  turpitude,  the  uncleanness  and  the 
abomination,  both  of  the  city  and  the  system. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  called  Baby- 
Ion  from  God's  point  of  view ;  from  God's 
point  of  view  it  is  the  mystery  of  abomination. 

Go  to  that  city  of  the  seven  hills,  where  every 
hill  is  called  a  "mount,"  and  you  will  find  that 
from  thence  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  rules 
over  nations,  peoples,  kindreds  and  tongues,  a 


372  THE  SIGNS  OF   THE  TIMES 

universal  rule,  counting  its  subjects  by  the 
hundreds  of  millions,  and  is  thus  in  deed  and 
in  very  fact  a  universal  church,  an  actual 
kingdom  over  which  one  man  as  Pope  is  head 
supreme. 

Take  up  history,  and  you  will  find  that  it  has 
reigned  over  the  kings  of  the  earth  and  made 
them  its  willing  slaves,  holding  over  them  the 
terrors  of  excommunication,  paralyzing  the 
hands  that  held  the  sceptre,  and  forcing  the 
onetime  proudest  emperor  of  the  world  to  stand 
shivering  on  a  winter's  day  in  his  penitential 
shirt  at  a  papal  palace  door,  while  the  exalted 
pontiff  within  turned  indifferently  away.  Ex- 
amine, and  you  will  find  that  this  church  to- 
day is  rich  in  gold,  in  silver,  and  in  precious 
stones,  its  buildings  storehouses  of  the  world's 
most  coveted  wealth. 

Visit  the  "treasuries,"  fittingly  so  called,  in 
her  great  cathedrals,  Notre  Dame  at  Paris, 
the  statue-pointed  cathedral  at  Milan,  Saint 
Peter's  at  Ivome,  and  you  will  find  gold,  sil- 
ver, pearls,  and  all  precious  things.  You  will 
find  them  in  mitres  and  croziers,  in  chasubles 
and  patens,  in  cups,  in  crystals  and  vestments, 
as  gifts  from  kings,  from  emperors  and 
queens ;  offerings  from  the  richest  of  earth, 
wealth  enough  to  make  even  kings  envy. 

Look  at  this  church  filled  with  gold,  with 
silver  and  precious  stones,  and  you  will  find 
that  its  official  color  is  scarlet,  scarlet  in  the 
hat  of  its  cardinals,  scarlet  in  the  robes  of  its 


THE   SCARLET  WOMAN  31?S 

pontiff  and  priests,  scarlet  everywhere— a 
scarlet  colored  church. 

Go  into  its  wonderful  buildings,  some  of 
them  monuments  of  the  mightiest  architectu- 
ral genius  of  the  world;  visit  them,  and  you 
will  find  them  full  of  images,  images  of  the 
virgin  mother,  images  of  the  saints. 

Stand  inside  Saint  Peter's  on  a  festal  day. 

The  vast  building  sweeps  upward  through 
mighty  p'lllar  and  colossal  arch  to  the  su- 
blime, impending  dome.  On  every  side  are 
chapels,  in  themselves  monster  buildings,  vast 
churches.  There  is  the  exalted  altar,  the 
countless  lights,  the  smoking  incense,  the 
chanting  choirs,  the  scarlet  robed  priests,  the 
voice  of  intonation,  prayer  and  confession, 
the  echoing  ora  pro  nobis,  and  everywhere 
kneeling  devotees,  bowing  down  to  mar- 
ble images,  doing  penance  and  lifting  up 
petitions  before  their  lifeless  faces.  There 
are  churches  specially  devoted  to  the  wor- 
ship of  the  virgin,  her  images  are  covered 
with  gold  and  silver  tributes.  In  one  church 
the  image  is  piled  about  with  crutches  and 
almost  hidden  under  the  offerings  of  those 
who  believe  themselves  to  have  been  healed 
or  blessed  by  her  interposition  and  interces- 
sion. Before  that  stony  figure,  men  and 
women  and  little  children  kneel  in  rapt  adora- 
tion. 

It  is  idolatry — pure  and  simple. 

Cast  your  eyes  over  the  past  centuries  and 


374  THE   SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

you  will  come  upon  an  era  when  the  rule  of 
this  church  was  so  supreme;  when  she  so 
clutched  the  throat  of  the  nations  with  her  al- 
most omnipotent  hand;  so  stifled  all  learning 
and  spiritual  knowledge,  that  by  common  con- 
sent that  age  has  been  called  the  dark  age, 
the  midnight  of  the  world's  moral,  intellec- 
tual and  spiritual  life.  So  dark  and  cruel 
was  this  time,  so  full  of  idolatry,  that  the 
Arab,  as  he  swept  a  victor  into  Europe,  paused 
at  the  doors  of  Catholic  churches,  then  turned 
and  fled  as  though  he  were  in  that  very  tem- 
ple of  heathen  idolatry  from  which  his  reli- 
gion bade  him  to  flee.  And  it  is  of  this  time 
and  this  Arab  that  Mrs.  Browning  sings  when 
she  says  that  knowledge  was  at  last  "thrust 
into  the  eye  of  Europe  on  the  point  of  a 
Paynim's  spear." 

Read  history,  not  the  history  written  by 
one  author,  but  by  all,  and  in  their  pages  you 
will  learn  how  men  and  women  were  led  into 
torture  chambers  or  buried  in  dismal  dun- 
geons. You  will  read  how  beautiful  women 
were  stripped  before  black  masked  judges 
gloating  over  unprotected  shame,  and  were 
led  away  to  racks  and  stretched  till  their  deli- 
cate limbs  were  snapped  and  their  tender 
flesh  torn  into  shreds.  You  will  read 
how  men  and  women  were  broken  on  the 
wheel,  or  flayed  alive,  their  eyes  put  out,  their 
tongues  plucked  forth  by  the  roots,  their  feet 
olaced  in  boots  filled  with  boiling  oil,  bags 


THE    SCARLET   WOMAN  375 

thrust  down  their  throats  and  then  filled  with 
water  till  they  agonized  with  slow  and  calcu- 
lated strangulation,  legs  placed  between 
boards  and  the  boards  driven  together  by 
wedges  till  the  bones  were  crushed  little  by 
little  to  a  pulp,  nails  wrenched  from  the 
fingers,  bodies  sawn  asunder  as  you  might  saw 
a  log  in  two,  members  of  the  body  cut  off  one 
at  a  time,  now  a  hand,  then  an  arm,  first  one 
leg,  then  another,  till  the  victim  was  a  mere 
quivering,  though  still  living,  trunk;  men  and 
women  taken  to  the  stake  and  burned  alive, 
the  wood  dampened,  or  green  wood  used,  that 
the  fire  might  burn  slowly  and  the  agony  and 
torture  of  the  victim  be  lengthened.  Try  and 
count,  if  you  can,  the  men  and  women  driven 
from  their  homes,  their  houses  burned,  their 
property  confiscated,  and  themselves  hunted 
on  the  mountains  and  pursued  through  the 
valleys  like  beasts  of  prey. 

Look  at  the  blood  flowing  like  water  from 
the  martyred  bodies  of  men  and  women, 
whose  only  crime  was  that  they  loved  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  believed  in  His  finished  re- 
demption on  the  cross,  refused  to  buy  their 
salvation  by  penance  or  good  works,  rejected 
the  intercession  of  a  human  priest,  or  a 
woman,  no  matter  how  good,  claimed  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  their  sin-bearer  and 
Saviour  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father, 
owned  Him  as  their  only  high-priest  and  in- 
tercessor and   would  ript,  even  at  the  price 


376  THE  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

of  their  own  life,  deny  Him  who  died  for 
them  and  rose  again.  And  remember,  while 
you  read,  that  these  martyrs  were  led  to  agony 
and  to  death  by  the  authority  and  express 
command  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church ;  a 
church  that  did  all  this  in  the  name  of  that 
most  fiendish  of  all  inventions,  the  "Holy  In- 
quisition"; a  church  whose  Pope  at  so  late  a 
date  as  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew's 
caused  a  special  celebration  to  be  sung  in  all 
the  churches  as  a  thanksgiving  to  God  that  the 
enemies  of  Romanism  had  been  thus  cruelly 
and  cowardly  slain,  stabbed  in  their  beds, 
thrown  from  the  windows  of  upper  stories  into 
stone  courts  below,  or  stricken  from  behind  as 
they  walked  in  the  streets ;  a  massacre  so  horri- 
ble, so  revolting  in  all  its  details,  that,  even  at 
this  hour,  when  you  pass  by  the  gilded  gates  in 
front  of  the  Louvre  at  Paris,  it  is  impossible 
not  to  recall  the  picture  of  the  piled  up  bodies 
of  the  murdered  Huguenots  flung  in  the  gut- 
ter there  and  weltering  in  th^ir  own  blood ;  it 
is  impossible  not  to  lift  the  eyes,  involuntarily, 
and  look  at  that  Catholic  church  of  Auxerrois 
just  across  the  way,  from  whose  tower  the 
tocsin,  which  was  to  give  the  signal  for  the 
awful  night  of  blood,  sounded  forth  its  brazen 
knell  of  doom.  Bring  all  this  to  mind  as  you 
read,  and  you  will  recognize  the  perfect  ac- 
curacy of  the  Spirit's  description  when  he  says 
*^H.»t  this  scarlet-clad,  this  universal,  this  c^tho- 


THE   SCARLET  WOMAN  37) 

lie  church  of  Rome    was    drunken    with  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus. 

In  the  vision  the  woman  is  seen  to  be  seat- 
ed upon  a  seven  headed,  ten  horned,  scarlet 
colored  beast. 

This  scarlet  colored  beast  is  identical  with 
the  fourth  beast  of  Daniel's  vision. 
Daniel  says: 

"After  this  I  saw  in  the  night  visions,  and, 
behold,  a  fourth  beast,  dreadful  and  terrible, 
and  strong  exceedingly ;  and  it  had  great  iron 
teeth;  it  devoured  and  brake  in  pieces,  and 
stamped  the  residue  with  the  feet  of  it;  and 
it  was  diverse  from  all  the  beasts  that  were 
before  it;  and  it  had  ten  horns." 
An  angel  explains  the  vision  to  Daniel: 
"Thus  he  said,  the  fourth  beast  shall  be  the 
fourth  kingdom  upon  earth,  which  shall  be 
diverse  from  all  kingdoms,  and  shall  devour 
the  whole  earth,  and  shall  tread  it  down,  and 
break  it  in  pieces.    And  the  ten  horns  out  of 
this  kingdom  are  ten  kings  that  shall  arise  " 
Daniel,  7:23,24. 

The  first  three  beasts  are  identical  with  the 
three  kinds  of  metal  formii.g  part  of  the  image 
which  Nebuchadnezzar  saw  in  a  dream  and 
which  Daniel  by  the  wisdom  of  God  inter- 
preted, as  recorded  in  the  second  chapter  of  the 
prophecy  that  bears  his  name.  In  that  dream 
the  image  had  a  head  of  gold,  breast  and  arms 
of  silver,  and  belly  and  thighs  of  brass. 
The  p-olden  head,  Daniel  tells  us,  represents 


378  THE  SICINS   OF   THE   TIMES 

the  Babylonian  kingdom,  "Thou  art,"  says 
Daniel,  "this  head  of  gold."  As  the  first  beast 
in  the  vision  which  Daniel  records  in  the  sev- 
enth chapter  is,  also,  the  first  kingdom,  and 
is  a  lion,  then  the  golden  head  and  the  lion 
are  the  equivalent  symbols  of  the  first  king- 
dom. 

The  second  beast  is  a  bear,  and  is  equivalent 
to  the  second  kingdom  represented  by  the  sil- 
ver breast  and  arms  of  the  image.  This  sec- 
ond kingdom  comes  in  after  Babylon  and,  nec- 
essarily, overcomes  it,  takes  it.  This  kingdom 
is  identified  for  us  in  the  fifth  chapter  of 
Daniel's  prophecy,  as  it  is  written : 

"And  Darius  the  Median  took  the  kingdom," 
(that  is,  the  kingdom  of  Babylon). — Daniel 
5:31. 

The  second  beast  as  thus  identified  is  the 
Medo-Persian  kingdom. 

The  third  beast  is  a  winged  leopard  and 
is  equivalent  to  the  third  kingdom  represented 
in  the  image  by  the  belly  and  thighs  of  brass. 
This  brazen-leopard  kingdom,  in  the  order  of 
succession,  is  the  kingdom  which  overcomes 
the  second,  or  Medo-Persian  kingdom. 

Daniel  gives  us  the  name  of  that  third  king- 
dom. He  has  a  vision  in  which  he  sees  a  ram 
standing  by  a  river  and  then  pushing  its  way 
westward  till  a  rough  he-goat  from  the  west 
rushes  upon  him  with  great  fury,  overcomes 
him,  and  tramples  him  with  his  feet.  Daniel  is 
perplexed  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  vision  till 


THE   SCARLET   WOMAN  379 

an  angel  appears  and  gives  the  interpretation: 

"And  he  said,  Behold,  I  will  make  thee 
know  what  shall  be  in  the  last  end  of  the  in- 
dignation: for  at  the  appointed  time  the  end 
shall  be. 

"The  ram  which  thou  sawest  having  two 
horns  are  the  kings  of  Media  and  Persia. 

"And  the  rough  goat  is  the  king  of  Grecia." 
—Daniel  8:19-21. 

The  first  three  beasts  then  are  identified  by 
the  Word  of  God. 

They  are, 

Babylon. 

Medo-Persia. 

Greece. 

The  fourth  beast  is  the  fourth  kingdom  and 
is  represented  in  the  image  by  the  legs  of  iron. 
The  iron  in  the  image  is  matched  by  the  iron 
in  the  teeth  of  the  beast:  it  had  great  iron 
teeth. 

Iron  then  is  the  symbol  and  character  of 
the  fourth  beast  kingdom. 

What  great  world  kingdom  is  symbolized  by 
iron,  is  known  as  the  iron  kingdom? 

All  history  answers,  every  student  of  history 
knows,  the  veriest  tyro  at  school  knows,  every 
lip  is  ready  to  speak  the  name — it  is  ROME. 

It  is  of  Rome  and  Rome  alone  that  iron  is 
used  as  the  symbol — we  speak  of  the  iron  le- 
gions of  Rome. 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  to  history  to 
identify  the  fourth  ^east,  to  find  the  name  of 


380  THE   SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

the  fourth  kingdom.  The  New  Testament 
answers  the  question  and  gives  the  affirmation. 
The  New  Testament  tells  us  that  Rome  was 
the  wide  ruling  world  power  in  the  day  when 
Christ  was  born.  It  was,  under  God,  by  the 
edict  of  a  Roman  Caesar  that  the  mother  of 
Christ  came  to  Bethlehem,  where  he  was  to 
be  born  in  fulfillment  of  Holy  Scripture. 

The  fourth  kingdom  then  is  Rome;  and  this 
Rome  included  all  the  territory  that  once  com- 
prised Babylon,  Medo-Persia  and  Greece. 
Rome  was  the  legatee  and  heir  of  the  three 
first  kingdoms,  and  thus  by  right  of  succession 
is,  as  foretold,  the  fourth  kingdom  as  it  is  the 
symbolic  fourth  beast. 

This  fourth  beast  is  identical  with  the  beast 
of  John's  vision,  the  scarlet-colored  beast  that 
carries  the  Babylonian  woman. 

This  scarlet-colored  beast  is  a  composite 
symbol.  In  it  are  the  elements  of  a  leopard,  a 
bear  and  a  lion. 

"And  the  beast  which  I  saw  (the  beast  de- 
scribed in  the  17th  chapter)  was  like  unto  a 
leopard,  and  his  feet  were  as  the  feet  of  a 
bear,  and  his  mouth  as  the  mouth  of  a  lion." — 
Revelation  13:2, 

The  leopard  has  been  seen  to  be  the  third 
beast,  and,  therefore,  the  third  kingdom,  and 
has  been  shown  by  Daniel  in  the  eighth  chapter 
of  his  prophecy  to  be  one  with  the  he-goat 
which  overcame  the  ram;  in  other  words  the 
kingdom  of  Greece. 


THE   SCARLET   WOMAN  381 

The  bear  has  been  identified  and  named, 
both  by  symbol  and  by  Daniel's  actual  state- 
ment, as  the  Medo-Persian  kingdom. 

The  Hon  is  the  first  symbolic  beast  in  Dan- 
iel's vision,  is  equivalent  to  the  golden  head  of 
the  image,  and  is  Babylon. 

The  fact  that  the  three  beasts,  the  lion,  the 
bear,  and  the  leopard,  are  seen  comprised  in 
one  beast,  is  the  symbolic,  but  clear  statement 
that  the  beast  of  John's  vision  is  a  fourth 
beast,  including  the  three  that  preceded  it. 
As  Daniel's  fourth  beast  is  the  symbol  of 
Rome  and  includes  the  three  preceding  king- 
doms, Babylon,  Medo-Persia  and  Greece, 
then  John's  beast  and  the  beast  of  Daniel  are 
identical,  and  both  agree  in  the  one  testimony 
that  this  is  Rome. 

As  the  woman  who  sits  upon  the  beast  has 
been  not  only  symbolically,  but  topographic- 
ally identified  as  Rome,  the  fact  that  the  very 
beast  upon  which  she  sits  is  civil  and  govern- 
mental Rome,  becomes  the  repeated  and 
doubly  corroborative  demonstration  that  the 
city  and  system  of  which  the  woman  is  a  sym- 
bol— is  Rome. 

There  is  further  identification  of  the  two 
beasts  in  the  fact  that  each,  the  beast  of  Dan- 
iel and  the  beast  of  John,  has  ten  horns.  The 
ten  horns  in  Daniel's  vision  are  ten  kings,  so 
declared  by  the  angel.  The  ten  horns  in 
John's  vision  are,  l''"ewise  by  an  angel,  de- 
clared to  be  ten  kings. 


382  THE  SIGNS  OF   THE  TIMES 

"And  the  ten  horns  which  thou  sawest  are 
ten  kings,  which  have  received  no  kingdom  as 
yet;  but  receive  power  as  kings  one  hour  (at 
the  same  time)  with  the  beast." — Revelation 
17:12. 

It  is  to  be  specially  noted  that  John  says 
these  kings  had  not  come  into  power  when 
he  wrote  this  vision. 

"Ten  kings,  which  have  received  no  king- 
dom as  yet." 

These  kings  did  not  exist  at  any  time  prior 
to  John's  day.  At  no  previous  time  in  the 
history  of  Rome  did  ten  kings  simultaneously 
occupy  and  rule  in  her  territory.  At  no 
period  since  John's  day  does  history  record 
the  simultaneous  rule  of  ten  kings  within 
the  limits  of  Rome. 

The  ten  kings  are  yet  future;  they  are  yet 
to  come. 

Daniel  speaks  of  an  eleventh  king  who  is  to 
be  the  federal  head  of,  and  rule  over,  these 
kings. 

"And  another  shall  rise  after  them  (the 
ten  kings)  ;  and  he  shall  be  diverse  from  the 
first,  and  he  shall  subdue  three  kings." — 
Daniel  7 :24. 

He  is  the  final  king,  the  federated  head  of 
the  ten  kings,  a  king  of  kings  and  lord  of 
lords.  Daniel  speaks  of  him  in  the  ninth 
chapter  as  "the  prince  *  *  *  that  shall 
come"  the  Coming  Prince  of  Rome- 

In  John's  vision  the  ten  kings  agree  and 
give  their  power  to  the  beast. 


THE   SCARLET   WOMAN  58^ 

"These  have  one  mind,  and  shall  give  their 
power  and  strength  unto  the  beast." — Revela- 
tion 17:13. 

This  is  saying,  on  the  basis  of  the  identity 
of  the  two  visions,  that  the  eleventh  king  is 
distinctively  called  "the  beast."  It  is  the  fur- 
ther statement  that  the  seven-headed,  ten- 
horned  beast  bears  the  same  relation  to  that 
eleventh  king  that  Nebuchadnezzar  does  to 
the  first  kingdom;  that  is,  one  is  put  for  the 
other.  Just  as  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  head  of 
gold,  is  put  for  the  kingdom  of  Babylon,  so 
the  beast  is  put  for  the  eleventh  king  of  the 
fourth  empire,  ruling  over  the  ten  kings,  or 
the  equivalent  ten  horns,  both  of  John's  and 
Daniel's  visions,  as  Prince  of  Rome  and  final 
Caesar. 

All  this  is  prophecy  clear  and  distinct  of 
the  revival  of  the  Roman  empire  in  a  new 
form  and  under  a  new  head. 

>The  two  legs  of  the  image  foretold  the  first 
division  of  Rome  into  two  great  parts  which 
history  knows  as  the  empire  of  the  West  and 
the  empire  of  the  East. 

The  ten  kings  portray  the  final  division  of 
the  ancient  Roman  territory  and  the  reorgani- 
zation of  the  empire  itself  as  a  federated  union 
under  an  eleventh  king. 

And  the  scarlet-clad,  Babylonian  woman  is 
seen  seated  on  the  back  of  this  revived  Roman 
empire. 

It  is  the  prophecy  that  the  Roman  Catholic 


384  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

Church  will  again  be  carried  and  supported 
by  nations  of  the  Roman  earth,  and  will  once 
more  rule  and  reign  with  temporal  power. 

It  is  the  divine  forecast  of  the  revival  of 
Romanism. 

THIS  REVIVAL  HAS  ALREADY 
BEGUN. 

It  began  in  the  hour  when  the  Protestant 
Reformation  was  at  its  zenith.  Protestantism 
rose  up,  smote  Catholicism  and  drove  it  from 
Germany  headlong  to  the  Mediterranean.  It 
seemed  as  though  it  were  about  to  be  flung  as 
with  a  millstone  about  its  neck  into  the 
depths  of  the  sea,  when,  suddenly  it  halted, 
stood  still,  recovered  its  strength,  shook  itself 
free  from  the  hands  of  its  assailants  and  be- 
gan steadily  to  return  to  the  lands  from 
whence  it  had  been  so  fiercely  expelled. 

Nothing  is  more  impressive  than  the  recov- 
ery of  Romanism  from  what  seemed  to  be  its 
death-blow.  It  reads  on  the  page  of  history 
like  a  veritable  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

And  this  resurrection  has  been  followed  by 
an  immense  and  ever  increasing  vitality,  by  a 
propaganda  that  extends  to  every  kingdom, 
nation  and  tongue.  Austria  is  Catholic  to  the 
core.  Germany  is  filled  with  devotees  of  the 
church,  and  her  supporters  may  be  counted 
by  the  millions.  The  progress  in  Protestant 
England  is  astounding.  A  year  ago  all  Lon- 
don poured  into  the  streets  to  see  for  the 
first  time  since  the  Reformation  the  trium- 


THE    SCARLET   WOMAN  385 

phant  march  of  a  Roman  Catholic  procession 
extending  for  miles,  while  thousands  on 
either  side  of  the  immense  column  bowed  the 
knee  in  adoration  as  the  sacred  symbols  of 
the  church  were  held  aloft.  Recently,  in  this 
same  London,  there  has  been  dedicated  with 
imposing  ceremonies  a  stupendous  and  costly 
cathedral.  Everywhere  throughout  England 
the  Romish  priest  is  a  power,  the  chapels  and 
churches  are  filled  to  overflowing;  daily,  con- 
verts from  the  Church  of  England  go  over 
to  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  that  by  easy 
steps,  as  though  the  English  church  itself 
had  become  a  half-way  house.  The  non- 
conformist oath  once  administered  to  English 
kings  on  the  day  of  coronation  has  been  re- 
pealed. The  official  head  of  English  Protest- 
antism has  ceased  to  protest.  Enthusiastic 
Romanists  consider  the  day  not  far  distant 
when  England  will  return  officially  to  the 
faith  and  be  received  by  Rome  as  a  long 
wandering,  but  sincerely  repentant  and  be- 
loved daughter  of  the  church. 

In  this  country  Romanism  is  advancing 
with  giant  strides.  A  little  over  one  hundred 
years  ago  there  were  only  33  priests  and  less 
than  50,000  Catholics,  scarcely  a  decent 
church  building,  one  college  and  no  schools. 
To-day  there  are  nearly  twenty  millions  of 
communicants,  one  cardinal,  14  archbishops, 
77  bishops,  14  church  provinces,  nearly  20,- 
000  priests,  to  say  nothing  of  the  thousands 


386  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

on  thousands  of  oath-bound  nuns,  between 
15,000  and  20,000  church  buildings,  some 
of  them  models  of  architecture  and  of  im- 
mense cost  of  construction.  There  are  7 
great  universities,  80  seminaries,  or  theologi- 
cal institutions,  213  colleges  for  boys,  over 
700  academies  for  girls  (to  which  Protest- 
ant mothers  send  their  daughters,  and  where 
the  daughters  become  converted  to  Roman- 
ism and  furnish  the  church  in  turn  with  Cath- 
olic mothers),  and  nearly  5,000  private 
schools,  each  school  a  protest  against 
the  public  school  system  of  the  Nation. 
While  the  population  of  the  United  States  has 
increased  twenty-five  times,  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic population,  in  a  little  over  a  century,  has 
increased  320  times,  nearly  twelve  times  as 
fast. 

The  solidarity  of  the  church  is  amazing;  it 
seems  miraculous. 

Out  of  the  fifteen  or  twenty  millions  in 
this  country,  there  is  not  a  Catholic,  in  the 
final  analysis,  who  would  be  disloyal  to  the 
church.  Whatever  his  private  opinion,  in 
the  end,  he  submits  to  her  as  the  supreme 
authority  over  his  conscience  and  soul.  This 
solidarity  extends  around  the  globe.  A  Cath- 
olic church  in  one  place  is  a  duplicate  of  a 
Catholic  church  in  every  other.  What  you 
see  in  New  York  you  will  find  in  China  and 
in  the  isles  of  the  sea.  Wherever  a  Catho- 
lic  sees    a    Romish    church    and    the    cross 


THE   SCARLET   WOMAN  387 

upon  its  spire,  he  knows,  whatever  may  be  his 
nationality  or  tongue,  in  that  church  he  will 
find  the  same  faith,  the  same  worship,  which 
was  taught  him  in  his  native  land,  at  his 
mother's  knee,  and  in  the  hour  of  his  first 
communion. 

This  solidarity  finds  its  significance  in  con- 
trast to  the  division,  the  confusion,  and  the 
uncertainty  of  Protestantism. 

In  this  country  Romanism  has  conquered 
social  distinction  and  an  accepted  standing. 

Not  many  years  ago  and  the  Catholic 
church  was  a  sort  of  social  pariah,  looked 
down  upon  with  disdain,  its  services  rejected, 
and  its  priests  regarded  with  aversion.  There 
was  a  time  when  for  an  American  to  be  a 
Catholic,  was  sufficient  to  ostracize  him  from 
family  and  friends  as  though  he  were  a  re- 
ligious and  social  leper.  To-day,  the  Catholic 
finds  all  doors  open,  from  the  hovel  to  the 
palace.  The  most  exclusive  sets  welcome  the 
priest,  invite  him  to  marry  their  sons  and 
daughters  and  dedicate  private  chapels  in  city 
homes  or  summer  villas.  Where  Romanism 
once  stood  as  the  symbol  of  that  which  was 
foreign  and  alien,  it  is,  to-day,  represented  by 
American  families,  their  names  recorded  on  its 
marriage  books,  its  birth  and  baptismal  regis- 
ters. In  no  land  has  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
more  loyal,  more  devoted,  or  more  liberal 
supporters  than  those  who  claim  to  be  Ameri- 
cans   and    to   the    manor    born.      And   morp 


388  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

Startling  still  is  the  fact  that  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  is  steadily  taking  the  place  of 
the  most  eloquent  defender  of  the  Bible. 
Startling,  indeed!  The  church  which  has  al- 
ways been  afraid  of  the  Bible;  the  church 
which  has  martyred  men  and  women  in  cold 
blood  for  even  daring  to  read  it;  the  church 
which  is  careful  in  this  day  to  give  only  an  ex- 
purgated edition  for  the  common  laity  to  read, 
and  legislates  the  most  severe  penalties  against 
the  indiscriminate  use  of  the  book ;  the  church 
which  has  been  the  actual  enemy  of  the  Bible, 
bitter,  deadly,  inveterate,  exercising  all  its 
hatred  against  it  as  the  source  of  Protestant- 
ism, the  arsenal  of  its  weapons,  and  its  mighti- 
est stronghold,  this  ancient  antagonist  is  now 
taking  the  place  of  Holy  Scripture's  most  un- 
compromising apologist,  rallying  to  its  defence 
its  keenest  logicians,  its  most  intellectual  writ- 
ers, its  most  brilliant  orators. 

And  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  coming 
into  this  place,  not  only  by  its  own  seeking,  but 
by  reason  of  the  undisguised  and  wide  spread 
infidelity  of  the  Protestant  Church. 

Go  into  so-called,  up-to-date  Protestant 
churches,  listen  to  some  of  their  most  advanced 
thinkers  and  preachers.  You  will  hear  them 
strikingat  the  very  foundation  of  Protestanism, 
repudiating  the  only  authority  on  which  it  can 
rest — the  Word  of  God — the  written  Word. 
You  will  hear  them  with  oracular  utterance 
and   much-claimed   scholarship    rejecting   the 


THE   SCARLET   WOMAN  389 

Old  Testament,  ridiculing  its  statements  and 
demonstrating  in  modern  formula  that  its  per- 
sonages are  fictitious,  its  history  worthless,  its 
prophecies  unfulfilled,  its  cosmogony,  astron- 
omy and  geology  unscientific,  and  the  laugh- 
ing-stock of  the  learned.  You  will  hear  them 
deny  the  infallibility  of  the  New  Testament, 
prove  its  human  and  not  divine  inspiration,  and 
set  before  you  a  Christ  who  was  limited  in 
knowledge,  who  was  not  always  sure  of  his 
mission,  was  sometimes  filled  with  vacillation, 
who  was,  nevertheless,  a  good  man,  and  whose 
death  on  the  cross  was  simply  the  tragedy  of 
one  too  gentle  for  the  times,  a  good  man  torn 
to  pieces  at  last  by  "the  whirling  wheel  of  the 
world's  evil."  You  will  hear  them  preach  the 
all-Fatherhood  of  God,  the  sonship  of  all  men, 
both  good  and  bad,  scout  the  idea  that  man  is 
a  lost  sinner,  laugh  at  the  fable  of  hell  and  the 
danger  of  future  punishment,  and  conclude 
with  the  self-satisfied  postulate  that  the  great 
saving  force  in  the  earth  is  the  law  of  evolu- 
tion ;  that  each  man  is  working  out  in  his  own 
way  his  own  problem ;  that  each  man  is  an 
avatar  of  God;  that  salvation  is  the  reforma- 
tion of  society  and  the  final  deliverance  of  the 
race  from  the  impedimenta  of  religiousness, 
superstition  and  ignorance.  Science,  they  de- 
clare, is  the  true  God  and  civilization  is  its 
handmaid.  In  short,  in  a  Protestant  pulpit 
and,  specially,  if  that  pulpit  is  occupied  by  a 
recent   graduate   of   an   advanced   theological 


390  THE   SIGNS    OF    THE   TIMES 

institution,  you  are  liable  to  hear  utterances 
as  treasonable  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the  re- 
vealed mission  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  ever  fell 
from  the  lips  of  the  most  pronounced,  most 
blatant,  but  unconcealed,  infidel  and  enemy  of 
the  church  of  God. 

You  will  listen  in  vain  to  hear  such  utter- 
ances in  a  Catholic  church,  be  the  preacher 
never  so  learned,  never  so  bright  or  brilliant. 
On  the  contrary,  and  with  rare  sagacity,  con- 
sidering the  state  of  Protestantism,  you  will 
hear  the  Catholic  pulpits  now  echoing  with  ad- 
dresses which  exalt  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of 
God,  handed  over,  it  is  true,  to  the  custody 
and  authoritative  interpretation  of  the  church 
still,  but  proclaimed,  nevertheless,  with  in- 
creasing emphasis  as  the  inspired  thought  of 
the  living  God. 

Rome  is  wise  enough  to  seize  the  strategic 
moment  and,  at  the  same  time,  take  advantage 
of  the  differing  opinions,  the  confusion,  and 
the  infidelity  among  Protestants,  to  draw  at- 
tention to  the  favorite  thesis  of  the  church,  that 
the  Bible  can  be  read  and  understood  only 
when  under  the  strict  surveillance  and  inspired 
interpretation  of  the  church ;  and  that  Protest- 
antism with  its  undivine  hands  has  wrested  the 
scriptures  to  its  own  damnation  and  the  dam- 
nation of  all  who  have  been  led  into  Protest- 
antism. By  this  subtle  seizure  of  the  oppor- 
tune moment  Romanism  places  itself  in  the 
forefront,   not   only  as   the    defender    of   the 


THE    SCARLET    WOMAN  391 

Bible,  but  as  iN  only  true,  sane,  and  authorita- 
tive interpreter. 

Not  only  is  the  Catholic  church  taking  the 
place  of  defender  of  Holy  Scripture  and  seek- 
ing to  rescue  it  from  profane  hands,  it  is 
rapidly  rising  as  the  bulwark  of  the  family,  the 
champion  of  the  home.  The  Roman  Catholic 
Church  stands  four-square  against  the  growing 
iniquity  and  excuseless  wickedness  of  divorce. 

The  Protestant  Church  takes  no  such  stand. 
There  is  no  unity  in  the  Protestant  Church 
concerning  this  shame.  There  are  to  be  found 
Protestant  ministers  who  will,  without  hesita- 
tion, marry  a  divorced  man,  or  a  divorced  wo- 
man, or  both.  In  some  Protestant  churches 
the  representative  men  and  women — men  and 
women  who  are  the  most  liberal  supporters  of 
the  church  and  foremost  in  its  work — are  di- 
vorced people.  Condemned  as  they  are  by  the 
Word  of  God  and  the  legislative  utterances  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  they  find  in  the  church 
which  professes  his  name,  the  church  which 
has  been  "espoused  to  him  as  one  husband," 
instead  of  judgment,  the  place  of  honor  and, 
often,  of  exalted  fellowship. 

Not  so  in  the  Catholic  church.  The  priest 
will  not  marry,  baptize  or  receive  into  com- 
munion those  who  are  living  in  open  defiance 
of  the  law  and  testimony  of  God.  To  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  marriage  is  a  sacra- 
ment, is  inviolable,  and  cannot  be  annulled  by 
the  laws  or  acts  of  man.    The  divorced  man  or 


392  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

woman  may  enter  a  Protestant  church  and  find 
shelter  there.  The  Roman  church  shuts  its 
doors  and  stands  Hke  an  insurmountable  bar- 
rier against  the  inflood  of  the  tide  that  would 
shipwreck  the  home  and  destroy  the  sacred- 
ness  of  such  holy  titles  as  husband  and  wife, 
father  and  mother. 

Unified  in  faith,  defending  the  Bible,  stand- 
ing against  divorce,  loyally  supported  by  lib- 
eral contributions,  the  poor  being  taught  to 
give  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  rich,  count- 
ing among  its  membership  some  of  the  most 
representative  families  of  America,  with 
stately  buildings,  schools,  colleges  and  univer- 
sities, numbering  its  followers  by  millions, 
those  millions  increased  by  every  steamship 
that  lands  its  load  of  emigrants  on  our  shores, 
and  guided  by  a  wisdom,  a  genius  that  makes 
her  ready  to  meet  each  new  demand  that  will 
strengthen  her  cause,  absolutely  cosmopolitan 
— Italian  in  Italy,  Spanish  in  Spain,  English  in 
England,  Irish  in  Ireland  and,  pre-eminently, 
American  in  America,  she  is  steadily  and  mar- 
vellously moving  on. 

Nor  is  this  advance  confined  alone  to  re- 
ligious lines. 

Nay,  the  march  is  far  away  beyond  that! 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  this  country 
is  an  immense  political  organization,  holds  the 
balance  of  voting  power,  on  the  eve  of  a  presi- 
dential election  defeated  the  candidate  whom 
-1.11  the  world  expected  to  be  successful,  and 


THE    SCARLET    WOMAN  393 

can,  if  she  will,  name  the  next  man  who  shall 
sit  in  the  presidential  chair. 

In  the  year  1902,  the  mission  of  the  present 
incumbent  of  the  White  House  to  the  Vatican 
was  a  political  one.  He  was  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  accredited  from  these  United  States 
as  Ambassador  to  the  Pope  of  Rome.  He  had 
instructions  from  the  Secretary  of  State  which 
said,  "any  negotiations  which  you  may  desire 
on  the  part  of  the  officers  of  the  civil  court  or 
of  military  officers  to  enable  you  to  perform 
your  negotiation  with  the  Vatican  will  be  af- 
forded ;"  and  this  high  Commissioner  from  the 
United  States  acted  and  spoke  in  Rome  as  the 
special  envoy  of  the  great  American  Republic 
to  the  Catholic  Church.  He  was  received  anc 
accepted  by  the  ambassadors  to  the  Pope  as 
one  of  themselves;  and  in  a  remarkable  cere- 
mony at  Saint  Peter's,  he  was  invited  as  an 
ambassador  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
and  took  his  place  in  the  diplomatic  tribune. 
Besid'es  all  that,  an  agreement  was  entered 
into  between  the  Pope  and  himself  concerning 
the  Catholic  Church  in  the  Philippines  and,  al- 
though the  contract  failed,  yet,  as  a  recent 
writer,  himself  a  Catholic,  has  said,  "This 
does  not  destroy  the  fact  that  Washington  was 
ready  to  enter  into  a  regular  treaty  with  the 
Pope,  similar  to  those  existing  between  the 
Vatican  and  the  leading  Catholic  governments 
of  the  world." 

Today,  Romanism  is  politically,  as  well  as 


394  THE  SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES 

religiously,  entrenched  in  the  great  cities  of 
our  land  and,  from  its  university  center  at 
Washington,  exercises  its  mysterious  and  far- 
reaching  power.  Romanists  confidently  expect 
the  time  to  arrive  when  the  whole  land  will  be 
under  its  political  control ;  when  the  machinery 
of  office  and  legislation  will  be  in  the  power 
of  the  church  and  when,  with  her  astounding 
increase  of  numbers,  she  will  be  the  religious 
and  political  dictator  of  the  new  world. 

The  grasp  of  Rome  is  on  the  sceptre  of  tem- 
poral power.  It  is  true,  France  has  separated 
her  from  the  State  and,  for  a  time,  refuses  to 
carry  her ;  it  is  true,  the  Vatican  and  the  Quiri- 
nal  are  at  odds  in  Italy,  and  the  Pope  still 
styles  himself  "prisoner"  in  Rome;  it  is  true 
that  Spain  is  in  the  throes  of  an  issue  whether 
the  civil  or  the  religious  power  shall  dominate. 
But,  while  the  separation  has  taken  place  in 
France,  that  "eldest  daughter  of  the  church," 
a  sentiment  has  been  aroused  and  a  partizan- 
ship  for  Rome  emphasized  such  as  has  not  been 
seen  since  the  days  when  Versailles  and  the 
Vatican  were  in  intimate  touch.  Italy  is  loyal 
to  the  king,  proud  of  the  day  when  Garibaldi 
broke  through  the  walls  of  the  "holy"  city  and 
gave  her  the  right  of  civic  liberty;  but  Italy 
is  Catholic  even  to  frenzy,  and  no  matter  how 
many  millions  may  be  spent  on  the  new  capi- 
tol,  or  how  far  Paganism  may  be  glorified  in 
the  re-opening  of  the  Appian  Way,  to  the  Ital- 
ian, the  dome  of  Saint  Peter's  still  overtops 


THE  SCARLET  WOMAN  395 

the  Pantheon  and  the  palace  of  the  king.  Spain 
may  advance  sufficiently  out  of  the  gloom  of 
candle-light  into  the  glare  of  the  electric  light ; 
she  may  allow  the  breath  of  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury toleration  to  breathe  through  her  streets, 
permitting  Protestants  to  write  the  name  of 
their  church  on  the  walls  of  their  buildings ; 
she  may,  in  an  issue,  exalt  the  civil  authority 
into  its  due  place,  but  the  born  Catholic  in 
Spain  looks  upon  Spain  as  the  kingdom  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  blindly  and  fanatically,  even 
unto  death,  believes  that  in  the  Roman  Church 
Jesus  Christ  is  alone  to  be  found ;  and  that,  in 
final  terms,  Spain  and  the  kingdom  of  the  Ro 
man  Church  are  one.  Should  the  issue  for 
one  moment  depart  from  the  civil  and  become 
religious,  the  government  would  be  overthrown 
in  a  night  and  Alphonse  and  his  English  queen 
repudiated  as  foes  to  the  faith. 

It  is  true  that  Germany  has  protested  againsl 
the  last  encyclical,  but  this  very  protest  is  a 
witness  that  the  Germany  of  to-day  is  not  the 
Germany  of  Luther,  nor  the  days  of  the  Great 
Elector ;  that  she  does  no  more  than  protest  is 
a  witness  that  the  political  power  of  Rome  has 
been  felt  upon  the  banks  of  the  Spree,  and 
that  the  Protestant  Emperor  of  the  birth  land 
of  Protestantism  is  satisfied  to  go  no  further 
than  the  limits  of  diplomacy  permit.  And  it  is 
because  of  this  that  Rome  with  her  soft  tread 
and  more  than  mortal  wisdom  has  accepted 
tie  protest,  explained  the  encyclical,  and  given 


396  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

orders  that  it  shall  not  be  read  in  German 
churches.  It  is  the  answer,  not  of  a  trembling 
suppliant,  but  of  a  church  that  feels  itself  suf- 
ficiently strong  in  the  headquarters  of  the 
Reformation  to  meet  diplomacy  with  diplo- 
macy. 

Rome  may  be  turned  back  for  a  moment,  for 
a  season  be  deflected  from  her  course,  but  her 
course  is  onward.  Those  who  hail  the  present 
separation  of  church  and  state  in  Europe  as  a 
witness  of  the  waning  power  of  the  church  as 
a  political  factor,  have  only  to  reflect  that  sep- 
aration in  this  country  is  more  radical,  more 
absolute,  than  it  is,  or  ever  can  be,  in  Europe ; 
and  that  in  this  country,  in  spite  of  the  separ- 
ation, the  church  increases  in  population,  adds 
to  her  wealth,  and  is  to-day  the  mightiest  force 
at  the  polls ;  it  is  only  necessary  to  contemplate 
the  results  of  separation  here,  to  see  that  sep- 
aration in  Europe  is  no  evidence  of  the  dimin- 
ution of  her  strength,  but  is,  really,  in  the 
sympathy  and  partizanship  which  it  is  sure  to 
arouse,  one  of  the  guarantees  of  her  final  ascen- 
sion to  sovereignty  and  powec. 

While  Protestantism  is  at  war  with  itself — 
is  full  of  treason  to  Holy  Scripture,  and  is 
breaking  up  into  new  and  more  absurd  de- 
nominational factions  every  day — Rome,  sys- 
tematically, unrelentingly,  and  yet  smoothly, 
secretly,  and  without  noise,  is  marching  to  her 
ordained  place. 

Protestantism  lifts  up  the  banner  of  guess. 


THE    SCARLET   WOMAN  397 

of  doubt,  of  dethroned  authority,  and  stands 
insistently  for  organized  uncertainty. 

Rome  speaks  with  certainty,  with  authority 
and  relentless  fixity. 

Protestantism  seeks  favor  of  the  unbeliev- 
ing world,  apologizes  for  her  creeds,  and  would 
establish  herself  by  denying  them. 

Romanism  hurls  anathema  at  the  unbeliever, 
magnifies  her  office,  and  claims  to  be  wholly 
divine. 

Protestantism  builds  schools,  and  endows 
universities,  that  she  may  teach  the  rising  gen- 
eration to  reckon  doubt  as  tne  beginning  of 
wisdom,  and  unbelief  as  the  sign-patent  01 
knowledge. 

Romanism  spends  her  wealth  in  establishing 
schools  and  institutions  of  learning  that  she 
may  lay  hold  of  the  rising  youth  and  teach 
them  that  the  church  is  the  symbol  of  God, 
and  tliat  the  highest  wisdom  is  to  obey  her 
commands. 

Protestantism,  in  its  reaction  from  ritualism, 
has  turned  the  church  into  a  lecture  room  and 
destroyed  the  feeling  of  reverence, 

Romanism  sanctifies  her  buildings  and  cre- 
ates a  feeling  of  awe  within  the  shadow  of  her 

churches. 

The  Protestant  enters  his  church  as  one 
might  enter  a  concert  room  or  a  hall  of  de- 
bate. 

The  Romanist  bows  on  the  threshold  of  his 
church  as  the  sanctuary  of  GocV 


398  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

Protestantism  has  stepped  down  on  to  the 
high  road  of  the  natural  and  the  common- 
place. 

Romanism  more  and  more  exalts  itself  into 
the  realm  of  the  supernatural. 

Protestantism  prides  itself  on  the  denial  of 
miracles. 

Romanism  claims  to  work  them. 

Protestantism  carries  with  it  the  impression 
of  newness  and  divisibility. 

Romanism  is  covered  with  the  dust  of  cen- 
turies, has  in  it  the  echo  of  the  distant  ages, 
and  is  superior  to  schism. 

As  the  present  age  goes  on,  multitudes  will 
turn  away  from  the  interrogation  points  of 
Protestantism,  to  the  unqualified  assertion  and 
assurance  of  Romanism,  to  her  gorgeous  rit- 
ual, her  spectacular  worship,  the  glamour  of 
her  two  thousand  years  of  unbroken  history, 
and  the  fact  that,  on  the  edge  of  eternity,  she 
offers  to  take  the  whole  responsibility  of  a 
human  being,  prepare  him  for  the  hour  and 
the  article  of  death,  go  with  him  into  the 
shadows,  keep  with  him  by  her  power  and  in- 
fluence in  the  unseen  world,  nor  quit  him  till 
she  has  delivered  him  from  danger,  and  se- 
cured him,  as  she  claims,  in  the  mercy  of  God. 

Some  years  ago,  while  on  an  ocean  trip  I 
became  acquainted  with  a  versatile  Irishman, 
a  graduate  of  Dublin  university,  and  a  world- 
wide traveler.  He  had  eaten  rice  with  the 
Chinese,   tasted    salt   with    the    Arabs    of   the 


THE    SCARLET    WOMAN  399 

desert,  clinked  his  glass  in  the  offices  of  the 
Qai  d'Orsay,  was  able  to  express  his  sugges- 
tive thoughts  in  the  fluency  of  some  half  dozen 
languages  beside  his  own,  and  was  as  much  at 
home  in  one  as  in  another.  He  was,  when  I 
met  him,  in  the  employ  of  the  British  govern- 
ment, and  had  been  a  commissioner  to  this 
country.  He  was  witty,  at  times  full  of 
pathos,  mercurial  and,  frequently,  overflowing 
with  wordy  heat.  He  was  a  scholar.  He  v;as 
abreast  of  the  times.  He  claimed  to  be  an 
agnostic.  His  speech  was  spiced  with  satire 
against  the  Christian  religion.  He  said  noth- 
ing coarse,  but  his  assaults  were  keen,  far- 
reaching  and,  often,  cut  me  to  the  heart.  One 
night  as  we  drew  near  to  the  Irish  coast,  we 
sat  together  in  the  aft  of  the  ship  where  we 
could  see  the  phosphorescent  glow  in  the 
waves.  He  was  in  a  reflective  mood.  He 
spoke  of  the  breyity  and  the  uncertainty  of 
life  and,  then,  of  the  eternity  beyond.  Sud- 
denly he  turned  to  me  and  said,  calling  me  by 
name,  "When  I  die,  I  am  going  to  die  a  good 
Catholic.  I  am  going  to  have  mass  said  for 
my  soul.  I  have  made  provision  foi  that." 
Seeing  my  amazement  and  that  I  was,  evi- 
dently, puzzled  to  know  whether  he  was  seek- 
ing to  outdo  himself  in  travesty,  he  said,  earn- 
estly, "Do  not  misunderstand  me ;  I  am  an  un- 
believer, but  I  am  superstitious.  I  have  been 
brour;ht  up  a  Catholic.  As  I  look  about  me  in 
the  world,  the  Church  is  the  only  thing  which 


400  THE   SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES 

has  seemed  to  stand  in  the  midst  of  changing 

mentality  and  the  reversal  of  human  knowl- 
edge. To  stand  unmoved  in  the  swirl  of  such 
conditions  counts  for  something.  The  Church 
comes  with  an  audacious  claim  of  authority 
and  the  power  of  completeness.  She  leaves 
nothing  for  me  to  do.  She  takes  all  the  re- 
sponsibility for  my  soul — for  the  past  and  the 
future.  You  may  call  it  what  you  please,  but 
I  tell  you,  her  position  counts  in  the  end,  and 
I  am  going  to  give  my  soul,  if  I  have  one,  over 
into  her  hands.  She  is  the  only  thing  that 
offers  certainty  when  you  are  about  to  leave 
this  world." 

It  was  pitiful,  but  it  was,  and  is,  an  illustra- 
tion of  how  thousands  feel,  and  how  that  feel- 
ing is  likely  to  grow  in  the  increasing  infi- 
delity and  guess  of  Protestantism,  in  its  total 
surrender  of  all  final  authority,  and  in  its 
suicidal  determination  to  wash  its  hands  of  the 
soul's  future. 

It  is  this  appeal  to  the  latent  superstition  in 
man,  this  splendid  and  uncompromising  asser- 
tion, this  unfaltering  claim  of  authority,  this 
unity  of  faith,  together  with  the  most  perfect 
organization  on  earth,  and  the  unalterable  pur- 
pose to  be  supreme  in  the  world,  that  will  give 
the  Catholic  Church  her  underhold  in  the  final 
religious  and  political  struggle  of  the  age. 

Everything  is  making  for  that  hour  when 
Rome,  once  more  seated  on  the  back  of  human 
government,  will  rule  the  earth. 


THE    SCARLET    WOMAN  401 

This  revival  of  Rome  in  our  day  is  a  sign 
of  the  times. 

The  Word  of  God  has  made  it  plain  that  be- 
fore the  Roman  CathoHc  Church  reaches  its 
cHmax,  the  Lord  will  come  secretly  into  the 
air  and  call  up  to  himself  the  true  church, 
made  up  of  individuals  out  of  every  professed 
church  of  Christ,  even  out  of  Romanism  (for, 
undoubtedly,  there  are  thousands  in  Romar'^m 
who,  while  in  the  darkness  and  error  of  that 
corrupt  and  corrupting  system,  have  )'et  been 
quickened  by  the  Spirit  of  God  and,  in  spite  of 
the   dead   weight   laid   upon   them   by  priest- 
craft, still  see  the  Son  of  God  as  their  final 
Saviour  and  Lord).     This  translation  of  the 
true  church  will  allow  all  the  constituent  ele- 
n:cnts    of    an    unrcgenerate  Protestantism  to 
coalesce   with,   and  find  shelter  in,  that  Ro- 
manism that  will  now  be  minus  its  regenerate 
membership,  and  v/holly  without  God.     It  is 
this  Romanism  that  will  expand  into  the  full 
outlines   of  the  scarlet  clad,  Babylonian  wo- 
man.   Then  will  she  ally  herself  entirely  with 
the  unseen  world  of  the  dead,  with  unclean 
spirits,  and  all  the  occult  force  which  Satan 
will  uncover,  as  he  leads  her  to  become,  for  a 
time,  the  wanton  bride  of  that  false  Christ  who 
shall  be  hailed  by  an  applauding  world  as  the 
"Coming    Man."      Then    will    the    inhering 
demcnism  and  paganism  of  Rome  come  forth 
in  all  its  iniquity  and  sin,  in  all  its  uncleanness 
^nd  shame.     It  will  be  as  when  the  vail  is 


402  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

withdrawn  from  an  ulcer,  from  a  concealed 
and  festering  corruption  ;  it  will  be  as  the  open- 
ing of  a  hidden  pit  full  of  the  dank  foulness 
of  decayed  matter ;  it  will  be  the  turning  into 
oxydized  blackness  of  that  which  once  passed 
for  silver  and  gold ;  it  will  be  the  full  and  final 
revelation  of  a  counterfeit  that  circulated  often 
as  current  coin  of  the  infinite  realm — and  be- 
came the  medium  of  exchange  whereby  souls 
were  deceived  and  multitudes  merchandized  to 
perdition.  Then  in  the  height  of  her  wholly 
Satanized  iniquity  she  will  be  supreme,  mani- 
festing that  power  which,  when  John  saw  it 
in  vision,  extorted  from  him  the  startling 
phrase — "When  I  saw  her  I  wondered  with 
great  admiration ;"  or,  literally,  "I  wondered 
with  great  wonder." 

But  for  a  space  only  shall  she  continue  thus 
— her  doom  is  written.  Antichrist  himself 
will  turn  upon  her  and  trample  her  beneath 
the  feet  of  his  ten  kings.  Throughout  his  do- 
minion they  will  turn  upon  her,  rend  her,  burn 
her  with  fire,  abolish  her  cult  and,  in  her  place, 
set  up  the  one  object  to  which  all  the  world 
will  turn  in  that  devil-mad  hour — to  Antichrist 
himself,  as  it  is  written:  "And  the  ten  horns 
which  thou  sawest  upon  the  beast  [the  ten 
kings  of  v:12]  these  shall  hate  the  whore,  and 
shall  make  her  desolate  and  naked,  and  shall 
eat  her  flesh,  and  burn  her  with  fire.  For  God 
Hath  put  in  their  hearts  to  fulfill  his  will,  and 
to   agree,   and   give   their   kingdom  unto  the 


THE  SCARLET  WOMAN  403 

beast,  until  the  words  of  God  shall  be  ful- 
filled."—Revelation  17:16,  17. 

And  again,  as  it  is  written : 

"And  all  that  dwell  upon  the  earth  shall 
worship  him  [the  beast,  Antichrist],  whose 
names  are  not  written  in  the  book  of  life  of 
the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world." — Revelation  13  :8. 

The  revival  of  Romanism  is,  then,  a  sign  of 
the  times.  It  is  a  sign  that  the  world  is  has- 
tening on  to  its  Roman  and  Antichristian  cli- 
max; and,  by  just  so  much,  it  is  an  increased 
and  solemn  warning  that  at  any  moment  the 
Lord  may  descend  in  his  unheralded  secrecy, 
and  snatch  away  from  earth  to  himself  all  who 
are  truly  his.  It  is  the  solemn  warning  that, 
at  any  moment,  those  who  have  made  a  mere 
profession  of  his  name ;  who  have  no  real 
knowledge  of  him  in  the  heart;  who,  in  spite 
of  the  profession  they  make,  still  walk  accord- 
ing to  "the  course  of  this  world,"  will  be  left 
behind  to  the  judgments  of  the  Great  Tribula- 
tion, and  the  righteous  wrath  of  a  long  suf- 
fering God. 

Well,  indeed,  may  we  heed  the  admonition 
of  the  Apostle  Peter:  "Wherefore  the  rather, 
brethren,  give  diligence  to  make  your  calling 
and  election  sure." — 2  Peter  1 :10. 

It  is  fitting  that  we  should  hear  the  search- 
ing words  of  Paul :  "It  is  high  time  to  awake 
out  of  sleep :  for  now  is  our  salvation  [that  is, 
the  redemption  and  glorifying  of  our  bodies  at 


404  THE  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES 

the  Coming  of  the  Lord]  nearer  than  when  we 
believed. 

"The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at  hand : 
let  us  therefore  cast  off  the  works  of  darkness, 
and  let  us  put  on  the  armour  of  Hght. 

"Let  us  walk  honestly,  as  in  the  day  [the  day 
of  Christ]  ;  not  in  rioting  and  drunkenness,  not 
in  chambering  and  wantonness,  not  in  strife 
and  envying. 

"But  put  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
make  not  provision  for  the  flesh,  to  fulfill  the 
lusts  thereof." — Romans   13:11-14. 


THE  PARLIAMENT  OF 
NATIONS 

"And  I  stood  upon  the  sand  of  the  sea, 
and  saw  a  beast  rise  up  out  of  the  sea,  having 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  upon  his 
horns  ten  crowns,  and  upon  his  heads  the  name 
of  blasphemy. 

"And  the  beast  which  I  saw  was  like  unto 
a  leopard,  and  his  feet  were  as  the  feet  of  a 
bear,  and  his  mouth  as  the  mouth  of  a  Hon ; 
and  the  dragon  gave  him  his  power,  and  his 
seat  [the  world]  and  great  authority. 

"And  I  saw  one  of  his  heads,  as  it  were 
wounded  to  death ;  and  his  deadly  wound  was 
healed:  and  all  the  world  wondered  after  the 
beast. 

"And  they  worshiped  the  dragon  which  gave 
power  unto  the  beast,  saying,  'Who  is  like  unto 
the  beast  ?  who  is  able  to  make  war  with  him  ?' 
And  there  was  given  unto  him  a  mouth  speak- 
ing great  things  and  blasphemies;  and  power 
was  given  unto  him  to  continue  forty  and  two 
months. 

"And  he  opened  his  mouth  in  blasphemy 
against  God,  to  blaspheme  his  name,  and  his 
tabernacle,  and  (even)  them  that  dwell  in 
heaven. 


406  THE  SIGNS   OF    !:;£   TIMES 

"And  it  was  given  unto  him  to  make  war 
with  the  saints,  and  to  overcome  them;  and 
power  was  given  him  over  all  kindreds,  and 
tongues,  and  nations. 

"And  all  that  dwell  upon  the  earth  shall 
worship  him,  whose  names  are  not  written  in 
the  book  of  life  of  the  Lamb  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world." — Revelation,  13  :  1-8. 

The  beast  set  forth  in  these  verses  is  identical 
with  the  one  seen  in  the  seventh  chapter  of 
Daniel's  prophecy.  In  that  chapter  he  records 
the  vision  of  four  beasts  which  he  sees  rising 
up  out  of  the  sea.  The  first  was  hke  a  Hon, 
the  second  like  a  bear,  the  third  a  leopard, 
and  the  fourth,  dreadful,  terrible,  unlike  any 
of  the  others.  It  had  great  iron  teeth,  it 
devoured,  broke  in  pieces,  stamped  with  its 
feet,  and  had  ten  horns,  Daniel  tells  us  that 
this  fourth  beast  is  the  fourth  kingdom  upon 
earth,  and  diverse  from  all  kingdoms.  The 
three  preceding  beasts  are,  therefore,  king- 
doms. The  vision  in  its  totality  gives  us  the 
picture  of  four  great  world  empires. 

Previous  to  this  vision,  Daniel  records  the 
forgotten  dream  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  King  of 
Babylon,  and  interprets  it.  The  King  saw, 
in  his  dream,  a  great  image.  The  head  was  of 
gold,  the  arms  and  breasts  of  silver,  the  belly 
and  thighs  of  brass,  the  legs  of  iron,  and  the 
toes,  part  of  iron  and  part  of  clay.  A  stone 
cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands  fell 
upon  the  feet  of  the  image,  broke  it  in  pieces, 


THE    PARLIAMENT    OF    NATIONS  407 

and  the  fragments  were  swept  away  as  the 
chaff  of  the  summer's  threshing  floor,  the  stone 
becoming  a  great  mountain,  filHng  all  the  earth. 

This  image,  Daniel  tells  us,  represents  the 
course  of  four  great  kingdoms,  each  metal 
symbolizing  a  kingdom.  As  such  it  is  evident 
that  the  four  metal  parts  stand  over  against, 
and  are  equivalent  to,  the  four  beasts — each 
representing  the  other.  The  gold  is  a  symbol 
identical  in  purport  with  the  lion,  the  silver 
with  the  bear,  the  brass  with  the  leopard,  and 
the  iron  with  the  fourth  beast,  the  beast  that 
has  the  iron  teeth  and  the  ten  horns.  The 
golden  head  of  the  image  is  announced  to  be 
Nebuchadnezzar.  Nebuchadnezzar  is  put  for 
Babylon,  the  king  standing  for  the  kingdom — 
just  as  in  Scripture  the  kingdom  stands  for 
a  kincr.  The  gold  of  the  image  is  thus  the 
symbol  of  Babylon.  As  the  gold  is  equivalent 
to  the  lion,  the  lion  is,  also,  the  symbol  of 
Babylon ;  it  is  the  first  kingdom. 

To  find  the  identity  of  the  second  kingdom 
we  turn  to  the  eighth  chapter  and  read 
Daniel's  vision  of  the  conflict  between  a  ram 
and  a  he-goat.  The  ram  is  specifically  de- 
clared to  be  the  kingdom  of  Medo-Persia.  In 
the  fifth  chapter  we  are  introduced  to  a  feast 
in  the  city  of  Babylon.  The  king  and  a  thou- 
sand of  his  lords  hold  high  revel  in  the  bril- 
liantly lighted  banquet  hall,  gleaming  with  gold 
and  silver,  and  echoing  with  the  song  and  laugh- 
ter of  bacchanal  mirth.  Suddenly,  an  armless 


408  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMH3 

hand  reached  out  of  the  night  and  wrote  rapid- 
ly on  the  paneled  wall  strange,  quivering  char- 
acters that  no  one  could  read.  None  of  the 
king's  astrologers,  sooth-sayers  or  wise  men 
could  interpret  the  meaning,  and  there  was 
great  consternation  in  the  midst.  Finally, 
Daniel  the  prophet  is  called  in.  He  scans  the 
writing.  He  interprets  the  message.  He 
makes  the  startling  announcement  that  God 
has  weighed  the  king  in  his  balances  and 
found  him  wanting,  and  that  the  God,  who 
raiseth  up  one  and  pulleth  down  another,  has 
given  his  kingdom  to  the  Medes  and  Persians. 
It  is  added  in  striking,  sententious  phrase : 

'"That  night  was  Belshazzar  the  king  of  the 
Chaldeans  [Babylonians]  slain,  and  Darius  the 
Median  [representative  of  Cyrus,  king  of  Per- 
sia] took  the  kingdom." — Daniel,  5:30-31. 

Medo-Persia  is  the  second  kingdom. 

The  symbols  are :  silver,  a  bear,  and  a  ram. 

The  he-goat  of  the  eighth  chapter  overcomes 
the  ram  as  it  rushes  westward  from  the  east. 
The  he-goat  runs  upon  it,  meets  it  at  a  river, 
throws  it  down  and  tramples  it  under  foot. 
This  he-goat  is  declared  by  the  angel,  who 
interprets  the  vision  to  Daniel,  to  be  the  king- 
dom of  Greece.  As  the  ram  is  the  symbol 
of  Medo-Persia,  and  is  the  second  prophetic 
kingdom,  then,  clearly, 

Greece  is  the  third  kingdom. 

Its  symbols  are :  brass,  a  leopard,  and  a  he- 
goat, 


THE    PARLIAMENT    OF    NATIONS  409 

To  find  the  fourth  kingdom  we  turn  to  the 
New  Testament.  The  kingdom  existing  at 
that  time  was  Rome.  It  existed  as  a  world,  o? 
universal  kingdom.  There  has  been  no  uni- 
versal kingdom  since  that  time.  In  the  New 
Testament  era  it  occupied  the  territory  of  the 
three  preceding  kingdoms.  It  held  sway  over 
all  the  countries  once  ruled  by  Babylon,  Medo- 
Persia,  and  Greece. 

Rome,  therefore,  was  the  fourth  kingdom. 

Thus  we  have, 
Babylon, 
Medo-Persia, 
Greece, 
Rome. 

The  beast  represented  in  Revelation  is  com- 
posite. 

It  is  like  a  leopard,  it  has  the  feet  of  a  bear, 
and  the  mouth  of  a  lion.  Leopard,  bear,  and  lion 
are  the  constituent  elements  of  this  compos- 
ite beast.  As  each  of  these  elements  represent 
successively,  Greece,  Medo-Persia,  and  Baby- 
lon, and  this  composite  beast  is  a  kingdom, 
then,  plainly  enough,  you  have  a  kingdom 
which  is  the  successor  of  these  three,  and  in- 
cludes them  within  its  territory.  It  is  a 
fourth  kingdom  including  in  its  rule  the  terri- 
tory and  the  peoples  of  Babylon,  Medo-Persia, 
and  Greece.  As  Rome  is  that  fourth  kingdom, 
then  this  beast  of  Revelation  is  the  fourth, 
or  kingdom  of  Rome. 

John  says  that  the  ten  horns  of  this  compos- 


410  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

ite  beast  are  kings,  which,  indeed,  is  evident 
from  the  crowns  they  wear. 

"The  ten  horns  which  thou  sawest  are  ten 
kings." — Revelation,  17:12. 

With  that  statement  in  mind  we  go  back 
to  the  prophecy  in  Daniel. 

Daniel  writes  that  the  ten  horns  on  the  fourth 
beast  are  ten  kings. 

"The  ten  horns  out  of  this  kingdom  [beasts] 
are  ten  kings." — Daniel,  7 :24. 

The  identification  with  the  beast  of  Revela- 
tion is  emphasized.  The  image,  which  is  a 
symbol  of  the  four  kingdoms,  has  ten  toes. 
As  the  image  is  the  equivalent  of  the  four 
beast  kingdoms,  and  the  legs  on  which  the 
ten  toes  are  found  are  a  symbol  of  the  fourth 
kingdom ;  as  the  ten  horns  out  of  the  fourth 
beast  are  ten  kings,  then  the  ten  toes,  as  an 
equivalent  symbol  are,  likewise,  ten  kings.  That 
the  ten  toes  are  ten  kings,  is  the  inclusive 
statement  of  Daniel : 

"In  the  days  of  those  kings." — Daniel,  2 :44, 

Daniel  is  referring  to  the  division  of  the 
fourth  kingdom.  It  will  be  broken  up  into 
elements  that  will  make  it  partly  strong  and 
partly  weak.  These  elements  are  the  ten  toes. 
It  is  on  the  ten  toes  that  the  stone  is  to  fall  and 
finally  break  the  image,  bringing  in  the  fifth, 
the  final,  and  everlasting  kingdom  of  God.  It 
is  when  these  toes  are  smashed  that  the  king- 
dom of  the  stone  is  set  up;  and,  pointing  to 
that  moment  of  the  fifth  kingdom's  inaugura- 


THE    PARLIAMENT   OF    NATIONS         411 

tion,  he  says,  "In  the  days  of  those  kings," 
and,  therefore,  in  the  days  of  those  toes. 

The  ten  toes,  then,  are  the  ten  kings. 

As  the  two  legs  represent  the  fourth  king- 
dom, and  the  two  legs  are  a  division ;  as, 
further,  each  leg  has  five  toes,  and  the  toes 
are  a  division  of  each  foot,  we  have  a  symbolic 
declaration  that  the  fourth  kingdom  should  be 
twice  divided :  first  into  two  equal  parts  and, 
second,  into  ten.  If  we  turn  to  history  (which 
we  might  have  done  in  the  case  of  each  of 
these  kingdoms,  and  found  amazing,  detailed, 
and  dramatic  corroboration  in  the  sequences 
of  the  kingdoms)  if  we  turn  to  history  here, 
we  shall  find  that  in  A.  D.  364.,  that  is,  nearly 
a  thousand  years  after  Daniel's  prophecy,  the 
fourth,  or  Roman  empire,  was  divided  between 
the  brothers  Valentinian  and  Valens  into  two 
great  parts,  known  as  the  Western  and  East- 
ern Empire,  the  capitals,  respectively,  being  at 
Rome  and  Constantinople. 

The  second  division,  the  division  of  the 
Western  and  tlie  Eastern  Empire  into  five 
kingdoms  each,  has  never  taken  place.  No 
such  condition  obtains  today.  The  conclusion 
is  evident — the  division  of  the  territory  once 
occupied  by  Rome  into  ten  kingdoms  is  yet 
future.  In  that  time  to  come  there  will  be 
five  kingdoms  in  what  was  once  known  as  the 
Western  Empire,  and  five  in  what  was  known 
as  the  Eastern  Empire. 

The  beast  in  Revelation  thirteenth  is  repre- 


412  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

sented  as  having  seven  heads.  In  the  seven- 
teenth chapter  these  heads  are  called,  first, 
mountains  and  then  kings: 

"The  seven  heads  are  seven  mountains  *  *  * 
and  there  [these]  are  seven  kings." — Revela- 
tion, 17:9,  10. 

Five  of  these  kings  have  fallen,  a  sixth  was 
living  when  John  wrote.  The  seventh  was  to 
come.  He  should  continue  but  a  short  space. 
He  would  disappear  and  then  come  forth  as 
the  eighth.  To  this  eighth  king  the  ten  kings 
will  give  their  suffrage.  This  eighth  king  be- 
comes the  head  over  the  ten  kings.  He  is  in 
the  end  an  eleventh  king,  and  thus  the  eighth 
head  represents  the  whole  beast  with  its  seven 
heads  and  ten  horns. 

Daniel  declares  that  out  of  the  ten  horns 
of  the  fourth  beast  will  arise  an  eleventh  horn, 
and  that  this  horn  will  exalt  itself  above  the 
other  horns — taking  the  place  of  lordship  over 
them. 

The  eleventh  horn  of  Daniel  and  the  eighth 
head  of  Revelation  are  identical. 

The  prophetic  meaning,  then,  of  all  these 
identified  symbols  is,  that  when  the  territory 
of  ancient  Rome  is  finally  divided  among  ten 
kingdoms — the  ten  kings  will  elect  over  them 
one  supreme  king — a  king  of  kings  and  lord 
of  lords;  that  this  supreme  king  will  be  the 
final  Caesar  of  Rome. 

(Daniel  indicates  that  this  coming  Caesar 
will  arise  in  one  of  the  four  kingdoms  into 


THE    PARLIAMENT   OF    NATIONS         413 

which  the  third  or  Grecian  kingdom  was 
divided. 

"In  the  latter  time  of  their  kingdom  *  *  ♦ 
a  king  of  fierce  countenance  *  *  *  shall 
stand  up  *  *  *  he  shall  stand  up  against 
the  prince  of  princes." — Daniel,  8:23-25. 

The  precise  location  out  of  which  he  arises 
is  set  before  us  in  the  title  which  is  given 
him  by  the  prophet  Isaiah,  "The  Assyrian," 
"The   King  of  Babylon."— Isaiah,   14:25,  4. 

He  will  arise  out  of  Babylon. 

Daniel  gives  him  the  title  of  the  prince  of 
Rome. 

He  does  it  in  this  wise.     He  says: 

"The  people  of  the  prince  that  shall  come 
shall  destroy  the  city  [Jerusalem]." — Daniel, 
9:26. 

Daniel  here  says  two  things: 

1.  After  the   death   of   Messiah    (Christ) 
a  people  should  come  and  destroy  Jerusalem. 
The   people   who   destroyed   Jerusalem   were 
Romans. 

2.  Out  of  this  people,  the  Romans,  there 
should  arise  a  prince — the  Coming  Prince 
and,  therefore,  a  prince  of  the  Romans.  The 
prince  of  the  Romans  is  a  prince  of  Rome. 

The  prince  of  Rome  is  a  Caesar. 

John  says  that  one  of  the  seven  heads  of 
the  beast  was  wounded  to  death  by  a  sword; 
his  deadly  wound  was  healed  and  all  the  world 
wondered  after  the  beast. 

"I  saw  one  of  the  heads,  as  it  were  wounded 


414  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

to  death;  and  his  deadly  wound  was  healed: 
and  all  the  world  wondered  after  the  beast." 
— Revelation,  13:3. 

The  seventh  head,  according  to  Revelation 
seventeenth,  continues  but  a  short  space.  This 
seventh  head  is  the  one  that  is  wounded  to 
death.  It  comes  to  life  again  and  reappears 
as  the  eighth  head.  This  is  resurrection — and 
eight  is  the  Scripture  number  for  resurrec- 
tion. 

It  is  because  he  is  revealed  as  the  man  who 
has  triumphed  over  death  and  the  grave  that 
all  the  world  will  wonder  after  him. 

Scripture  paints  a  full  portrait  of  him. 

He  is  an  orator,  holding  the  multitude  by 
the  witchery  of  his  eloquence.  He  is  a  scien- 
tist, acquainted  with  nature's  forces.  He  is 
an  occultist,  an  adept  in  psychological  myster- 
ies. He  is  a  soldier,  conquering  nations.  He 
is  a  builder  of  cities,  rebuilding  Babylon,  mak- 
ing it  the  commercial  and  distributing  center 
of  the  East.  He  becomes  king  of  Babylon. 
He  subdues  the  remaining  three  of  the  four 
kingdoms  into  which  Greece  was  divided.  His 
conquest  brings  him  to  the  Bosphorus,  All 
Europe  trembles  before  him.  The  kings  of 
Western  Europe  meet  in  conclave  with  the 
kings  of  the  East.  Together  they  form  a 
congress  of  kings — a  parliament  of  nations. 
They  agree  to  elect  this  man  as  their  federal 
head.  They  give  him  the  title  of  Prince  of 
Rome — the  king  of  Rome.    It  is  at  this  moment 


THE    PARLIAMENT   OF    NATIONS         415 

when  he  is,  apparently,  slain  to  death,  and 
rises  again. 

His  resurrection  will  be  the  theme  of  the 
world. 

It  will  be  hailed  as  the  glory  of  science,  the 
perfection  of  human  attainment,  the  demon- 
stration of  evolution. 

His  picture  is  complete. 

He  will  be  a  risen  man — a  king  of  kings — 
a  lord  of  lords. 

He  will  throw  off  all  disguise.  He  will 
deny  the  existence  of  God.  He  is  "the  fool 
who  in  his  heart  hath  said  there  is  no  God." 
He  will  claim  that  man  is  the  highest  expression 
of  nature's  forces;  that  nature  finds  its  per- 
sonality in  man ;  that  man  is  the  supreme 
being  in  the  universe;  and  as  he  (the  beast) 
is  easily  supreme  among  men,  that  he  is  the 
supreme  personality  of  the  universe. 

Men  will  worship  him.  They  will  give  him 
hero-worship.  They  will  see  in  him  the  ulti- 
mate of  their  own  humanity ;  reading  in  him 
the  deity  that  belongs,  in  greater  or  less  meas- 
ure (so  they  will  say)  to  every  man.  In 
owning  and  glorifying  him,  they  will  glorify 
themselves. 

It  will  be  the  self-deification  of  humanity. 

It  will  be  accepting  the  Devil's  old  lie :  "Ye 
shall  be  as  Gods." 

It  will  be  the  ringing  out  of  the  old,  the 
ringing  out  of  the  true,  the  ringing  in  of  the 
new,  the  ringing  in  of  the  false — "the  Christ 


416  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

that  is  to  be."  The  Christ  of  evolution,  and 
not  the  Christ  of  revelation. 

This  man  is  foretold  by  Paul. 

"That  man  of  sin  *  *  *  the  son  of 
perdition :  who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself 
above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  wor- 
shiped; so  that  he  as  God  sitteth  in  the 
temple  of  God,  shewing  himself  that  he  is 
God." — II.  Thessalonians,  2  :3-4. 

He  is  the  man  of  whom  our  Lord  said  that 
he  should  come  "in  his  own  name." — John, 
5:43. 

He  is  the  man  of  whom  John  speaks — ^the 
Antichrist. 

"He  is  the  Antichrist,  that  denies  the  Father 
and  the  Son." — I.  John,  2:22. 

This  is  the  prophecy  of  the  future: 

Within  the  limits  of  the  old  Roman  empire 
there  will  be  a  parliament  of  the  nations,  an 
assembly  of  ten  kings.  Out  of  this  parliament 
of  the  nations  will  come  the  man  of  sin — the 
Antichrist. 

Certain  movements  indicate  that  the  world 
is  getting  ready  for  this  parliament  of  nations. 

It  has  been  proposed  recently,  and  seriously, 
by  leaders  in  the  Turkish  revolution,  that  a 
parliament  of  the  great  world  powers  be  con- 
vened. Each  nation  is  to  send  its  representa- 
tive king  or  governor.  Constantinople,  as 
being  central  to  the  West  and  the  East,  is 
suggested  as  the  historic  meeting  place.  These 
nations   in  representative   assembly  of  kings 


THE    PARLIAMENT    OF    NATIONS  417 

and  governors,  are  to  discuss  the  political 
biidation  of  the  world,  settle  issues  that  may 
arise,  and  dictate  a  governmental  policy  that 
shall  be  universal.  In  the  nature  of  the  case 
such  a  congress  of  nations  must  be  presided 
over.  It  has  been  suggested  that  one  of  the 
leading  monarchs  of  Europe  be  invited  to 
fill  that  role  and  take  the  headship  of  the 
parliament. 

Side  by  side  with  this  is  the  suggestion,  float- 
ing for  some  time  as  a  rumor  through  Euro- 
pean journals,  that  ten  of  the  strong  nations 
of  the  world  should  form  themselves  into  an 
alliance  to  regulate  the  commerce  of  the  earth, 
and  keep  the  peace.  Emperor  William  has 
been  named  as  the  fitting  head  of  this  com- 
bination. 

The  proposition  from  Turkey  has  been 
laughed  at,  and  the  rumor  concerning  the 
Kaiser  and  his  ten  allied  nations  has  been  of- 
ficially denied ;  but  both  of  these  suggestions 
are  shadows  of  the  coming  event.  As  straws 
show  the  way  of  the  wind,  so  these  ideas  blown 
out  by  the  breath  of  men,  proclaim  the  increas- 
ing consciousness  that  the  world's  peace  and 
security  demand  a  world-wide  federation  and 
unity.  Along  with  these  suggestions  there 
is  the  hurried  armament  of  the  nations  and 
their  feverish  preparation  for  war.  This  prep- 
aration must  come  to  a  climax — either  uni- 
versal disarmament  or  universal  clash.  Uni- 
versal disarmament  is  impossible  in  the  nature 


418  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

of  things.  It  is  impossible,  because  the  Son 
of  God  has  said  that  war  will  continue  among 
men  till  he  returns.  He  says  there  will  be 
wars  and  rumors  of  wars,  kingdom  will  rise 
against  kingdom  and  nation  against  nation. 
Not  till  he  comes  to  put  down  all  rule  and 
authority  and  reign  as  the  Prince  of  Peace,  will 
the  nations  cease  from  war. 

Out  of  this  final  conflict  and  crash  of 
contending  armies  there  must  come  a  complete 
change  in  the  present  order  of  political  distri- 
bution. The  map  of  Europe  and  Asia  will  be 
entirely  altered.  There  will  be  re-organization. 
This  act  of  re-organization  will  fall  into  the 
hands  of  some  supreme  personal  force. 

An  effort  is  being  made  to  counteract  this 
tendency.  An  arbitration  alliance  has  been 
formed.  Eight  nations  have  elected  their  rep- 
resentatives. A  palace  for  the  session  of  the 
delegates  has  been  built.  The  propaganda  of 
peace  is  making  itself  heard  and  felt.  It  has 
apostles  and  a  literature.  Everywhere  men 
are  crying  peace.  In  proportion  as  the  war 
preparation  goes  on,  the  cry  for  peace  be- 
comes louder  [as  though  it  would  drown  the 
roll  of  drums,  the  shoutings  of  the  captains, 
the  word  of  command,  and  the  tramp  of 
armed  men]. 

It  is  a  tremendously  startling  thing  that  the 
apostle  Paul  should  have  warned  the  church 
that  just  before  the  cataclysmic  close  of 
this    age,    there    would  'be  this  very  propa- 


THE    PARLIAMENT    OF    NATIONS  419 

ganda  of  peace ;  and  that  it  was  to  be  an  indi- 
cation that  the  church  should  at  that  very 
moment  be  on  the  threshold  of  the  tumult  and 
the  tribulation  which  eventuate  in  the  coming 
of  the  Lord,  himself. 

He  says : 

"When  they  shall  say  peace  and  safety :  then 
sudden  destruction  cometh  upon  them." — I. 
Thessalonians,  5  :3. 

With  this  preparation  for  war  and  the  antici- 
pative  cry  for  peace  is  the  significant  fact, 
that  the  Jews  in  large  numbers  are  returning 
to  Palestine,  Zionism  is  no  longer  a  mere 
sentiment,  it  is  becoming  each  day  a  mightier 
factor  in  the  world's  politics ;  and  when  it  is 
remembered  that  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
revived  Roman  empire  will  be  to  throw  the 
land  of  Palestine  open  to  the  Jews  and  recon- 
stitute the  kingdom  of  Judah,  it  is  evident  that 
the  outlines  of  coming  events  are  casting  their 
deepening  shadows  before. 

To  those  who  think  and  reflect,  it  is  a  won- 
derful re-setting  of  the  ancient  scene. 

Look  at  it! 

Rome — Caesar — ^Judea  a  protectorate  of 
Rome.  Judea  once  more  paying  tribute  to 
Caesar. 

The  stage  set  just  as  it  was  when  the  Son 
of  God  came  into  the  world  the  first  time. 

The  special  significance  of  these  things  to 
the  Christian  may  be  seen  by  reading  the  fol- 
lowing passage: 


420  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

"And  he  [the  beast — the  Roman  Emperor — 
the  Antichrist]  opened  his  mouth  in  blasphemy 
against  God,  to  blaspheme  his  name,  and  his 
tabernacle,  and  (even)  them  that  dwell  in 
heaven." — Revelation,  13 :6. 

The  tabernacle  of  God  is  here  said,  accord- 
ing to  the  true  reading,  to  be  those  who  at  this 
time  are  dwelling  in  heaven.  The  tabernacle 
of  God  is  the  church.  It  is  the  declaration, 
therefore,  that  at  the  time  when  this  man,  the 
Antichrist,  is  running  his  blasphemous  course 
on  earth,  THE  CHURCH  WILL  BE 
DWELLING  IN  HEAVEN. 

This  is  an  illuminating  and  comforting  as- 
surance. 

It  is  a  clear  demonstration  that  the  church 
does  not  go  through  the  Tribulation,  and  is 
a  confirmative  testimony  to  the  faithfulness 
of  the  Lord's  promise  to  the  church  at  Phila- 
delphia : 

"I  also  will  keep  thee  from  the  hour  of 
temptation  [the  Tribulation]  which  shall  come 
upon  all  the  world,  to  try  them  that  dwell  upon 
the  earth." — Revelation,  3:10. 

But  it  is  the  announcement  of  a  great  and 
imminent  fact — the  fact  that  before  the  church 
can  dwell  in  heaven,  it  must  be  removed  as  a 
body  from  earth  to  heaven.  The  church  is  to 
be  removed  from  earth  to  heaven  as  the  bride 
of  Christ.  The  bride  can  go  only  when  the 
bridegroom  comes  for  her.  Christ  is  coming 
as  the  Bridegroom  for  his  church.     He  will 


THE    PARLIAMENT   OF    NATIONS  421 

come  in  an  hour  when  "ye  think  not,"  and  as 
a  "thief  in  the  night."  The  thief,  as  a  rule, 
comes  after  midnight,  in  the  hour  of  deepest 
darkness,  and  the  time  of  heaviest  sleep,  comes 
softly,  unexpectedly,  suddenly,  secretly.  As 
a  church  we  have  passed  the  midnight  hour, 
the  cry  has  been  sounded,  "Go  ye  out  to  meet 
him."  There  is  gross  darkness  upon  the  people, 
and  it  is  the  time  of  heavy  sleep.  Any  moment 
the  Bridegroom  may  come  for  those  who  are 
really  his. 

This  imminency  is  emphasized  by  the  prep- 
aration for  the  parliament  of  nations.  Every 
hammering  sound  of  events  which  tells  that 
the  stage  is  being  put  together  for  the  final 
and  climacteric  display  of  the  world's  sin  and 
wickedness,  is  a  terrific  and  faithful  witness 
that  the  Coming  of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh, 
that  it  is  even  now  "at  the  doors,"  and  should 
inspire  us  to  be  awake,  alert,  and  ready,  lest, 
coming  suddenly,  he  find  us  asleep. 

AN  ANALYSIS  OF  REVELATION 
THIRTEENTH. 

1.  The  beast  is  the  symbol  of  the  revived 
fourth,  or  Roman,  empire,  divided  among  ten 
kings,  and  heading  itself  up  in  the  rulership 
and  power  of  a  final  Caesar — the  Antichrist. 
v:l. 

2.  This  final  Caesar  is  called  by  the  general 
kingdom  name,  "The  Beast."  Just  as  Nebu- 
chadnezzar stands  for  Babylon  the  kingdom,  so 


422  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

the  beast  kingdom  here,  conversely,  stands  for 
the  beast  king — the  Antichrist.  The  descrip- 
tion of  the  kingdom  beast  is  intended  to  set 
forth  in  final  analysis  the  king  himself. 

3.  This  man  is  slain  to  death  and  rises 
again,  thus  imitating  Christ  as  the  risen  man — 
as  king  of  kings  and  lord  of  lords,    v  :3. 

4.  The  world  is  filled  with  wonder  con- 
cerning him. 

They  give  him  hero  worship.  In  doing  this 
they  are  worshiping — without  knowing  it — 
the  dragon  (the  Devil  himself.) 

5.  He  is  the  incarnation  of  the  Devil. 
"Whose  coming  is  after  the  working    [the 

energy-power]  of  Satan." — II.  Thessalonians, 
2:9. 

6.  He  wages  war  and  becomes  a  universal 
conqueror. — v  :4. 

7.  He  is  a  great  orator,  a  blasphemer,  an 
infidel. — v  :5. 

8.  He  runs  his  blasphemous  course  for 
forty-two  months. 

These  are  prophetic  months.  Prophetic 
months  are  lunar  months — months  of  thirty 
days.  There  are  three  hundred  and  sixty  days 
in  a  prophetic  year.  These  forty-two  months 
are  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days — three 
years  and  a  half. 

9.  He  speaks  in  blasphemy  against  God. 
v:6. 

10.  He  blasphemes  the  tabernacle  of  God. 
v:6. 


THE    PARLIAMENT    OF    NATIONS  423 

11.  The  tabernacle  of  God  consists  of  those 
who  dwell  in  the  heavens.  The  heaven  dwel- 
lers are  seen  in  Revelation,  4:4: 

"And  round  about  the  throne  were  four  and 
twenty  seats  (thrones)  and  upon  the  seats  I 
saw  four  and  twenty  elders  sitting,  clothed  in 
white  raiment:  and  they  had  on  their  heads 
crowns  of  gold." 

These  are  kings  and  priests. 

Who  these  kings  and  priests  are  is  described 
in  Revelation,  5 :8-10. 

"The  four  and  twenty  elders  fell  down  be- 
fore the  Lamb,  having  every  one  of  them 
harps,  and  golden  vials  full  of  odors,  which 
are  the  prayers  of  saints"  (which  prayers  they 
present  in  the  exercise  of  their  priestly  office. 
Notice  here,  and  notice  it  well,  the  church 
presents  the  prayers  of  the  saints — not  the 
saints  the  prayers  of  the  church.) 

"And  they  sung  a  new  song,  saying,  Thou 
art  worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the 
seals  thereof:  for  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast 
redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood,  out  of  every 
kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation ; 
and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God  kings  and 
priests:  and  we  shall  reign  on  (over)  the 
earth." 

These  redeemed  people  are  the  church. 

The  church  then  is  the  tabernacle  of  God  in 
heaven. 

12.  While  the  beast,  the  Antichrist,  is  run- 
ning his  blasphemous  course,  the  church,  the 


424  THE   SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES 

tabernacle  of  God,  will  be  in  heaven,  far  above 
the  tumult  and  the  terror  of  the  Tribulation. 
The  church  is  translated  to  heaven  at  the 
secret  coming  of  Christ — when  he  comes  as 
the  Bridegroom. 

13.  The  beast  will  persecute  the  saints 
(the  believing  ones  on  earth)  after  the  transla- 
tion of  the  church ;  those  among  Jew  and 
Gentile  who  believe  the  "Gospel  of  the  King- 
dom," which  will  then  be  preached  instead  of 
as  now,  the  Gospel  of  Grace. — v:7. 

14.  He  will  rule  over  nations. — v:7. 

15.  All  who  are  not  of  the  elect  of  God  on 
earth  will  worship  him — give  him  their  allegi- 
ance.— ^v  :8. 

16.  The  second  beast  is  not  Antichrist, 
He  is  the  prime  minister  of  Antichrist. 
The  proof  that  he  is  not  the  Antichrist  is 

in  the  fact  that  he  leads  the  whole  world  to 
worship  the  first  beast.  He  fills  the  same 
function  that  the  Holy  Spirit  does  in  relation 
to  Christ.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  here  not  to  speak 
of  himself,  ibut  to  lead  men  to  faith  and  service 
in  Christ.  Just  so,  this  second  beast  does  not 
speak  of  himself;  he  does  not  seek  to  lead  men 
to  believe  in  himself,  but  the  first  beast,  the 
head  of  the  Roman  em.pire.  Antichrist,  we 
are  told  on  the  absolute  authority  of  the  Son 
of  God,  will  "come  in  his  own  name."  That 
ought  to  settle  it  beyond  all  dispute.  The  sec- 
ond beast  does  noi  come  in  his  own  name,  he 
comes  in  the  name  of  the  first  beast. 


THE    PARLIAMENT   OF    NATIONS         425 

He  is  an  apostle  of  Antichrist. 

He  is  the  Vicar  of  Antichrist. — v:12. 

17.  He  works  miracles  on  behalf  of  the 
beast,  the  Antichrist. 

The  apostle  Paul  tells  us  that  the  coming 
of  Antichrist  is  with  "all  power  and  signs  and 
lying  wonders." — H.  Thessalonians,  2:9. 

This  power  is  exercised  by  his  apostle  and 
primate  in  his  name.  Just  as  the  apostles  of 
Christ  did  miracles  in  his  name  and  by  his 
spirit. 

18.  He  causes  an  image  to  be  made  to  the 
beast.  As  of  old  men  were  called  on  to  do 
homage  to  the  image  of  the  Roman  Emperor. 

19.  He  has  power  to  give  life  (breath)  to 
the  image  so  that  it  shall  speak. — v:14. 

Already  we  have  automata  that  can  play 
games  of  chess  (deceiving  inventions),  the 
phonograph  registers  the  voice  of  the  living 
and  the  dead,  and  the  kinetoscope  already 
gives  the  movement  of  life,  and  promises,  in 
connection  with  the  phonograph  and  dactylo- 
graph,  to  make  the  moving  figures  speak  and 
act  to  the  very  life.  (Coming  events,  let  it  be 
repeated,  cast  their  shadows  before). 

20.  We  learn  that  the  beast,  the  Antichrist, 
was  slain  by  a  sword.  It  was  a  sword  stroke, 
an  assassin's  blow,  from  which  he  recovered  to 
the  world's  amazement. — v:14. 

21.  This  apostle  of  Antichrist  causes  all 
to  be  killed  who  will  not  bow  down  to  the 
image  of  the  first  beast. — v:15. 


426  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

22.  All  must  receive  the  mark  of  Antichrist 
in  the  right  hand  and  on  the  forehead.  That 
is,  they  must  bring  their  work  and  their  will 
in  submission  to  the  will  of  Antichrist. — v:16. 

23.  No  business  can  be  carried  on  without 
the  trade  mark  of  Antichrist.  He  is  the  great 
"boss." 

The  name  of  the  beast  is  the  "number  of  a 
man."  The  true  reading  is,  not,  a  man,  but, 
"the  number  of  man,"  man  considered  as  a 
whole. 

That  number  is,  6,6,6. — v:18. 

7  is  the  number  of  Christ.  He  always 
spoke  in  sevens  and  of  sevens. 

7  is  the  number  of  fulness  and,  therefore, 
is  the  name  of  Christ;  for,  he  is  the  fulness 
of  the  godhead  bodily. — Colossians,  2 : 9. 

7  is  the  number  of  the  Christian  ;  it  is  the 
number  of  completeness,  and  the  Christian  is 
said  to  be  "complete"  in  Christ. — Colossians, 
2:10. 

6  is  the  number  this  side  of  7. 

As  7  is  fulness,  completeness,  perfection,  6 
is  this  side,  or  short  of  fulness,  completeness, 
perfection. 

Man,  as  man,  is  not  complete,  he  is  not 
perfect,  he  falls  short,  as  it  is  written: 

"For  all  have  sinned  and  COME  SHORT 
of  the  glory  of  God." — Romans,  3 :  23. 

3  is,  as  well  as  8,  the  number  of  resurrection. 

Although  this  man,  the  Antichrist,  professes 
a  resurrection,  he  cannot  attain  unto  the  PER- 


THE   PARLIAMENT  OF   NATIONS        427 

FECT  MAN— he  falls  short;  it  is  the  doom 
of  natural  humanity,  no  matter  how  high  and 
boastingly  it  may  lift  itself. 

3  is,  also,  the  number  of  repetition. 

We  make  an  effort  once,  we  try  again,  and 
make  a  final  effort. 

In  spite  of  every  effort  this  man  fails  at  the 
last. 

The  end  of  Christ,  and  man  in  Christ,  is 
the  throne  of  the  universe.  The  end  of  Anti- 
christ, and  man  in  union  with  Antichrist,  is 
the  Lake  of  fire. 

Man  out  of  Christ  is  a  present  failure  and 
a  final  ruin. 

Man  in  Christ  is  a  present  Son  of  God  .nd — 
a  future  king  and  priest — m  associater  glory 
with  Christ. 


THE  ZIONIST  MOVEMENT 

"And  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  re- 
turn, and  come  to  Zion  with  songs,  and  ever- 
lasting joy  upon  their  heads:  they  shall  obtain 
joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow  and  sighing 
shall  flee  away." — Isaiah  35 :  10. 

"They  shall  ask  their  way  to  Zion  with  their 
faces  thitherward." — Jeremiah  50:  5. 

After  the  flood,  the  people  gathered  them- 
selves together  at  Babel,  and  would  build  a 
tower.  In  judgment,  the  Lord  confused  their 
tongues  and  scattered  them  abroad,  breaking 
them  into  ethnical  fragments,  or  nations.  He 
did  so,  because  it  was  his  purpose  to  form  one 
supreme  nation  in  the  earth,  a  nation  which 
should  be  the  memorial  of  his  unity  and  the 
witness  of  his  righteousness.  It  was  his  pur- 
pose to  send  his  Son  to  be  their  incarnate 
king  and  constitute  them,  throug^n  him,  as 
channels  of  governmental  and  spiritual  bless- 
ing to  the  world.  To  this  end  he  scattered 
the  people  abroad  and  fixed  their  bounds  in 
relation  to  the  land  of  Palestine,  ordaining 
that  land  to  be  the  geographical  and  political 
center  of  the  earth. 

He  at  once  began  the  unfolding  of  his  plan. 

He  called  Abraham  out  of  Mesopotamia 
into  Palestine — into  the  land  of  Canaan.     He 


THE  ZIONIST  MOVEMENT  429 

covenanted  to  give  the  land  to  him  and  to  his 
posterity  for  an  everlasting  possession.  He 
promised  him  a  son  and,  in  due  time,  fulfilled 
the  promise,  giving  him  Isaac.  When  Isaac 
was  arrived  at  manhood,  he  bade  Abraham 
take  him  and  sacrifice  him  upon  Mount  Mo- 
riah.  Abraham  obeyed,  led  his  son  to  the 
mount,  erected  the  altar,  and  the  son  stretched 
himself  thereon.  Abraham  was  about  to  slay 
him,  in  the  faith  that  God  would  raise  him 
from  the  dead,  when  the  voice  of  God  stayed 
his  hand  and  the  uplifted  knife.  A  ram  caught 
by  its  horns  in  a  thicket  was  offered  as  a 
substitute.  When  Abraham  raised  his  knife 
to  give  the  blow,  the  boy  was,  in  his  mind,  as 
good  as  dead.  When  his  stroke  was  arrested 
and  the  young  man  raised  from  the  altar  alive, 
it  was,  indeed,  as  though  he  had  been  raised 
from  the  dead.  It  was  a  typical  resurrection 
scene,  and  the  suggestive  outline  of  that  ac- 
tual substitutionary  death,  and  the  very  resur- 
rection from  the  dead,  which  took  place  cen- 
turies afterward  on  that  very  spot,  when  the 
eternal  Son  of  God  both  died  and  rose  again. 
In  that  typical  resurrection  hour  God  reaf- 
firmed his  covenant  with  Abraham,  assuring 
to  him  and  to  his  posterity  the  land,  and  cove- 
nanting that  in  his  seed  (which  seed  was 
Christ — and  of  whom  Isaac  was  the  type)  all 
the  nations  of  thg  earth  should  be  blessed. 

Isaac  had  two  sons,  Esau  and  Jacob.  Jacob 
through  subtlety  (and  yet  in  the  providential 


430  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 

plan  of  God)  obtained  the  birthright  and  the 
blessing,  setting  forth  the  divine  principle 
that  it  is  always  the  second  born,  and  never 
the  first  born,  that  gets  the  inheritance  ("that 
was  not  first  which  is  spiritual,  but  that  which 
is  natural:  and  afterward  that  which  is  spir- 
itual"). 

Jacob  became  the  father  of  twelve  sons.  By 
reason  of  famine  he  and  his  sons  were  led 
to  go  down  into  Egypt.  The  twelve  sons  be- 
came the  heads  of  the  twelve  tribes:  these 
twelve  tribes  were  called  the  Children  of  Is- 
rael— Israel  being  the  name  given  of  the  Lord 
to  Jacob  in  that  earlier  period  of  his  life  when, 
on  the  mountain  height  between  the  midnight 
and  the  morn,  he  wrestled  with  him,  putting 
his  thigh  out  of  joint,  but  giving  him  the 
name  because  in  the  moment  of  physical  de- 
feat Jacob  became  the  spiritual  victor,  claim- 
ing, through  faith,  a  blessing  from  the  Lord ; 
as  a  prince  he  had  prevailed  spiritually  with 
the  Lord,  and  was,  henceforth,  entitled  to 
power  with  God  and  with  man. 

In  Egypt  the  Children  of  Israel  multiplied 
into  a  nation  and  were  held  under  bondage 
by  Pharaoh.  God  sent  Moses  to  deliver  them 
and  call  them  out  in  fulfilment  of  the  covenant 
made  with  Abraham,  with  Isaac,  and  with 
Jacob.  As  a  judgment  upon  Egypt  the  Lord 
pronounced  sentence  of  death  against  all  the 
first  born  in  the  land.  Under  inspiration  from 
God,  Moses  instructed  the  people  to  take  a 


THE    ZIONIST    MOVEMENT  431 

lamb,  a  firstling  of  the  flock,  without  blemish, 
set  it  apart  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  month, 
kill  it  in  the  evening  of  the  fourteenth,  sprinkle 
the  blood  on  the  two  side  posts  and  on  the 
upper  door  post  of  the  houses,  then  go  in, 
shut  the  door,  and  remain  till  morning,  shoes 
on  the  feet,  loins  girded,  and  staff  in  hand, 
but  eating  with  haste  of  the  slain  lamb  roast 
with  fire,  that  they  might  be  ready  for  the 
coming  of  the  Lord  at  midnight,  and  be  ready 
to  go  forth  with  him  in  the  morning  to  the 
promised  land. 

At  midnight  the  angel  of  the  Lord  went 
through  the  land  and  smote  the  first  born 
with  death.  Wherever  he  saw  blood  upon  the 
house,  he  passed  over  (it  was  the  Lord's  Pass- 
over), knowing  that  the  judgment  of  death 
had  been  met  in  the  death  of  the  substitute. 
In  the  morning  there  was  one  dead  in  every 
house.  In  the  houses  of  the  Egyptians  there 
was  wailing  and  anguish,  because  it  was  the 
death  of  their  own  first  born.  In  the  houses 
of  the  Israelites  it  was  the  first  born,  unblem- 
ished lamb,  the  ordained  substitute,  that  was 
dead. 

Under  Moses,  and  by  the  outstretched  arm 
of  the  Lord,  the  people  were  led  forth  from 
the  land  of  bondage,  through  the  divided 
waters  of  the  Red  Sea,  into  the  wilderness 
way,  and  then,  as  on  eagles'  wings,  to  the 
foot  of  Mount  Sinai.  There  the  people  took 
themselves  voluntarily  from  under  the  uncon- 


432  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE  TIMES 

ditional  Abrahamic  covenant  and  placed  them- 
selves under  the  conditional  covenant  of  the 
Law,  God  would  have  taken  them  without 
any  condition  whatever,  in  fulfilment  of  his 
covenant  promise  to  Abraham,  directly  into 
the  promised  land.  The  moment  they  an- 
nounced themselves  capable  in  their  own 
strength  of  doing  all  that  the  Lord  required, 
he  changed  his  manner  of  dealing  with  them, 
drew  a  line  between  himself  and  them,  gave 
them  the  Law  written  on  tables  of  stone,  and 
added  the  ceremonial  law.  He  gave  them  the 
ceremonial  law  that  in  the  offerings  and  sac- 
rifices they  might  have  a  continual  witness 
of  the  original  sentence  of  death  against  them- 
selves, realize  that  their  redemption  was  by 
blood,  and  that  on  the  ground  of  blood  shed- 
ding alone  could  they  draw  nigh  unto  God  ;  and 
that  they  might  behold  each  day  the  outline  of 
that  coming  spotless  Person  who  should  be  the 
Lamb  of  God,  bearing  away  the  sin  of  the 
world — might  behold  him  as  their  sacrificial 
redeemer  and  eternal  king. 

Under  the  conditional  covenant  of  the  law 
they  entered  the  land.  They  were  to  stay  in 
that  land  so  long  as  they  fulfilled  the  condi- 
tions. They  had  gone  in  under  the  choral 
curses  invoked  on  Ebal,  curses  invoked  for 
failure  in  righteousness,  or  obedience  to  God. 
The  antiphonal  chorus  of  blessing  from  Geri- 
zim  was  never  sung.     They  went  in  saying: 


THE   ZIONIST   MOVEMENT  433 

"Cursed  be  we  if  we  fail  to  fulfill  all  we  have 
promised  unto  God." 

And  they  failed! 

They  became  weary  of  an  unseen  king,  even 
though  that  king  were  the  living  Lord.  They 
desired  a  king  of  flesh  and  blood  like  unto 
their  neighbours.  The  Lord  granted  them 
their  request.  He  gave  them  Saul  in  his  an- 
ger and  took  him  away  in  his  wrath.  He  gave 
them  David  and  built  them  up  an  exceedingly 
great  nation,  climaxing  their  glory  and  great- 
ness in  his  son  Solomon.  Under  Solomon's 
son,  Jeroboam,  ten  tribes  revolted  against  Solo- 
mon's successor,  Rehoboam,  and  went  into 
Samaria,  there  establishing  themselves  Ss  the 
Northern  kingdom,  setting  up  Images  and  be- 
coming an  idolatrous  people.  God  sent  the 
Assyrians  against  them.  They  carried  away 
the  people  as  captives.  For  twenty-five  hun- 
dred years  their  identity  has  been  lost  and 
they  have  been  known  and  spoken  of  in  his- 
tory as  "the  ten  lost  tribes." 

The  remaining  two  tribes,  Judah  and  Ben- 
jamin, because  of  their  iniquity,  were  carried 
away  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  king  of  Baby- 
lon. At  the  end  of  seventy  years,  as  had  been 
foretold  by  Jeremiah,  the  prophet,  they  were 
permitted  to  return  anud  rebuild  Jerusalem  and 
the  temple.  By  the  hand  of  one  conqueror 
and  another  they  were  ruled,  till  Rome  set  her 
imperial  eagles  above  the  royal  standard  of 
Judah, 


434  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

In  the  fulness  of  time,  and  before  a  law- 
giver had  departed  from  between  the  knees 
of  Judah,  the  eternal  Son  of  God  took  of  the 
substance  of  a  woman  and  was  born  under 
the  law,  that  he  might  redeem  them  that  were 
under  the  law  (even  Israel).  Wise  men  from 
the  East  came  seeking  him  as  one  born  king 
of  the  Jews,  and  fell  at  his  feet,  giving  him 
of  their  gifts — worshipping  him  as  Lord  as 
well  as  king. 

At  the  exact  moment  foretold  by  the  angel 
Gabriel  to  Daniel,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
incarnate  Son  of  God,  son  of  Abraham  and 
son  of  David — heir  of  the  land  and  covenant 
heir  ^f  the  throne — rode  into  Jerusalem  amid 
the  plaudits  of  the  people,  proclaiming  him 
king  of  Israel  and  son  of  David,  and  presented 
himself  to  the  nation,  officially,  as  their  king. 
Judas,  one  of  the  twelve  disciples,  betrayed 
him  to  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim.  He  was  ar- 
rested, tried  and  condemned  as  a  blasphemer. 
Because  they  had  no  jurisdiction  in  the  case 
of  death,  the  Sanhedrim  handed  him  over  to 
Pilate,  the  Roman  governor,  on  the  charge  of 
sedition  and  conspiracy  against  Rome.  Pilate 
would  have  let  him  go  free,  had  he  consulted 
his  own  feelings,  but  political  consideration 
swung  the  balance  against  personal  sentiment. 
Jesus  was  given  into  the  hands  of  the  execu- 
tioner and  crucified  to  death,  while  over  him 
was  nailed  the  superscription  of  his  accusa- 
tion, that  he  was  the  King  of  the  Tews. 


THE  ZIONIST  MOVEMENT  435 

Nothing  saved  the  apostate  nation  from  im- 
mediate and  total  destruction  but  the  interces- 
sary  prayer  of  the  divine  victim,  "Father,  for- 
give them;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do," 
The  Apostle  Paul  corroborates  the  fact  of 
their  blindness  and  ignorance.    He  says : 

"Had  they  known  it,  they  would  not  have 
crucified  the  Lord  of  glory." — I,  Corinthians 
2:  8. 

In  crucifying  the  Son  of  God  they  were 
guilty  of  manslaughter. 

When,  of  old,  an  Israelite  was  cutting  wood 
and  the  axe,  slipping  from  the  helve,  killed  a 
neighbour,  he  was  forced  to  flee  along  the 
prepared  highway  to  the  nearest  city,  called 
a  city  of  refuge.  He  was  obliged  to  do  this 
because  the  nearest  kin  to  the  slain  man  must 
act  at  once  as  the  avenger  of  blood,  leap  upon 
the  track  of  the  fleeing  man,  overtake  him  if 
he  could,  and  slay  him,  thus  obtaining  satis- 
faction for  the  deed  according  to  the  law 
(never  yet  repealed — a  law  existing  before 
that  of  Sinai),  "whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood, 
by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed." 

By  his  unintentional  act  the  manslayer  lost 
his  home,  and  if  he  reached  the  city  in  safety, 
must  stay  there  till  one  high  priest  died  and 
another  came. 

Like  the  manslayer,  the  Jew  ignorantly  slew 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Nevertheless,  the  doom 
of  the  manslayer  overtook  him.  He  lost  his 
home.     He   expelled   the   Lord   Jesus    Christ 


436  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE  TIMES 

from  the  home  that  was  his.  The  Lord  caused 
him,  Hkewise,  to  be  expelled  from  the  land. 
Forty  years  later,  the  Romans  under  Titus 
came,  took  the  city  of  Jerusalem  after  a  siege 
in  which  hundreds  of  thousands  are  said  to 
have  perished,  destroyed  the  houses,  took  the 
remaining  inhabitants  away,  and  drew  a 
ploughshare  over  the  hill  of  Zion  as  a  witness 
that  it  had  ceased  to  be  a  city,  and,  unknown 
to  the  haughty  Roman  himself,  as  a  witness 
that  the  word  of  the  prophet  foretelling  that 
Zion  should  be  as  a  ploughed  field,  had  been 
fulfilled  to  the  letter.  The  Jews  exiled  their 
king  and  would  not  have  him  to  rule  over  them 
as  a  nation;  they  became,  themselves,  exiles 
among  the  nations.  For  two  thousand  years 
they  have  lived  in  borrowed  homes.  No  mat- 
ter where  they  may  be  born  or  how  much  they 
attempt  to  identify  themselves  with  the  land 
of  their  birth,  they  bear  upon  them  the  mark 
and  stamp  of  the  alien.  For  three  years  and 
a  half  their  king  walked  through  the  earth 
as  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief.  For  two  thousand  years  they  have 
been  a  nation  of  sorrows  and  experts  in  grief. 
As  a  nation  they  crucified  their  king  and  the 
nations  have  crucified  them.  For  two  thou- 
sand years  their  history  has  been  written  in 
blood  and  tears.  They  have  been  rejected  and 
despised  of  men.  In  the  hall  of  the  Sanhedrim, 
in  the  barracks  of  Herod,  before  Pontius  Pi- 
late, on  the  way  to  Calvary  and,  at  last,  on 


THE  ZIONIST  MOVEMENT  437 

the  cross,  Jesus  was  mocked,  jibed  at,  and 
spurned.  For  two  thousand  years  the  Jews 
have  been  the  butt,  the  jibe,  the  mockery,  the 
scorn  and  contempt  of  the  Gentile  world.  They 
have  been  more  than  laughed  at,  more  than 
mocked.  They  have  been  the  objects  of  a 
persecution  unparalleled.  They  have  been 
whipped,  beaten  with  rods,  stoned,  imprisoned, 
robbed,  and  burned  alive.  The  men  have  been 
enslaved,  the  women  ruthlessly  ravished,  and 
the  children  destroyed.  They  have  been 
thrown  into  wells,  sent  to  sea  in  rotten  ships, 
flayed  alive,  tortured,  hunted  as  wild  beasts 
are  hunted,  and  their  lives  prolonged  in  agony 
till  death  has  become  a  benediction.  For  cen- 
turies whoever  robbed  or  killed  a  Jew  felt 
that  he  did  God  service.  They  were  not  al- 
lowed to  own  a  rood  of  land,  nor  testify  in 
court,  and,  in  some  places,  were  charged  the 
toll  weight  over  a  bridge  as  though  they  had 
been  a  herd  of  cattle  or  a  flock  of  sheep.  Be- 
cause they  had  no  recourse;  because  all  men 
were  their  enemies,  and  every  hand  against 
them,  their  character  responded  to  the  times 
and  its  usage.  Unable  to  defend  themselves 
with  arms,  they  seemed  to  fawn,  to  yield,  took 
advantage  of  their  foes,  cheated  when  they 
could,  and  lied  themselves  out  of  threatened 
danger.  These  were  their  only  weapons  of  de- 
fence, and  when  caught  in  the  attempt  to  so 
defend  themselves  against  the  assaults  of  their 
Gentile  aggressors,  were  smitten  and  perse- 


438  THE  SIGNS  dF  THE  TIMES 

cuted  a  thousandfold — each  characteristic  of 
apparent  dupHcity  justifying  the  Gentile  in 
his  murderous  attack. 

God  used  the  Gentile  nations  as  his  rods 
wherewith  to  correct  his  disobedient  people; 
at  the  same  time,  he  warned  these  nations  that 
while  he  would  not  make  a  full  end  of  the 
Jews,  he  would  make  a  full  end  of  them. 

He  has  kept,  and  is  keeping,  his  twofold 
promise. 

He  has  laid  his  hand  on  the  nations  that 
persecuted  them.  No  nation  has  touched  them 
and  not  paid  the  penalty  in  sorrow,  in  suffer- 
ing, or  national  shame.  Rome,  which  cruci- 
fied the  Lord,  destroyed  Jerusalem,  and  en- 
slaved the  people,  has  passed  away,  and  only 
the  mournful  ruins  of  the  Palatine  remain  to 
suggest  the  splendors  of  the  once  proud 
Caesars.  The  arch  of  Titus  still  crowns  the 
Velian  hill,  and  the  sculptured  procession  of 
the  captive  Jews  may  yet  be  seen  thereon,  but 
the  forum  through  which  these  captive  Jews 
once  passed  with  downcast  eyes  and  laggard 
steps  of  pain  is  a  wilderness  of  fallen  columns, 
of  ruined  temples  and  forgotten  triumphs. 
France,  where  the  hand  of  persecution  was 
once  cruel  enough  to  bury  helpless  Jews  alive, 
has  lost  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  Spain,  whose 
Catholic  Philip  sent  thousands  of  trembling 
Jews  to  sea  in  sinking  ships,  has  lost  the  last 
pearl  amid  the  jewels  of  her  American  posses- 
sions, and  was  forced,  at  the  cannon's  mouth, 


THE    ZIONIST    MOVEMENT  439 

to  sell  the  very  islands  named  after  that  Philip 
who  loaded  his  soul  with  the  weight  of  in- 
famy by  reason  of  Jewish  deaths.  Russia, 
where  the  Jews  were  shot  down  in  the  streets 
of  cities,  hung  and  quartered  and  exposed  in 
stalls  of  butcher  shops  as  so  many  beeves,  went 
down  in  humiliation,  shame,  and  unspeakable 
horror  of  defeat,  before  the  armies  of  pagan 
Japan. 

The  Lord  has  said  that  Israel  is  as  the  apple 
of  his  eye,  and  that  whosoever,  therefore, 
touches  a  Jew  touches  him. 

The  sorrow  of  every  nation  that  has  ever 
persecuted  the  Jew  is  the  solemn  witness  to 
the  truth  thereof. 

But  a  full  end  has  not  been  made  of  the  Jew  ! 

Far  from  it! 

In  spite  of  the  sorrow,  the  suffering,  the 
unreportable  persecution,  the  Jew  has  lived, 
has  thrived,  until  to-day  there  are  at  least 
twelve  millions  of  them  in  the  world — four 
times  as  many  as  those  who  crossed  the  Red 
Sea  under  Moses ;  and  these,  but  a  sixth  part 
of  the  whole  nation,  consisting  only  of  the 
tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin. 

Their  suffering  upon  the  one  side,  and  their 
amazing  preservation  upon  the  other,  are  wit- 
nesses that  God  is  behind  it  all.  To  admit  that 
they  have  been  miraculously  preserved  (and 
who  can  evidentially  deny  it?)  is  to  admit 
that  the  same  hand  which  has  restrained,  must 
be  the  same  hand  that  has  permitted,  the  suf- 


440  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

faring.  Nor  need  we  have  any  doubt  or  guess 
about  the  matter.  Page  after  page  of  Holy 
Writ  is  filled  with  the  threatenings  of  the 
Lord.  Again  and  again  he  forewarns  of  the 
very  experience  through  which  they  since  have 
passed.  It  is  only  necessary  to  change  the 
future  tense  in  which  the  prophecies  have 
been  written  to  the  present  tense  to  read  their 
actual  history  in  the  light  of  to-day.  It  is 
the  Lord  who  has  permitted  them  to  sufifer ;  it 
is  the  Lord  who  has  preserved  them.  They 
have  been  persecuted  and  have  suffered  in 
final  cause  because  they  have  been  absent  from 
their  native  land. 

They  have  been  a  nation  out  of  place. 

Let  a  man  stand  in  a  crowd  and  be  neither 
going  nor  coming,  he  will  soon  be  jostled 
and  pushed,  whirled  and  turned  about,  and 
more  or  less  maltreated,  because  he  is 
out  of  place,  he  is  in  everybody's  way. 
Just  so,  the  Jew  anywhere  else  than 
in  Palestine,  and  in  national  relationship, 
is  out  of  place.  He  is  in  everybody's 
way,  and  has  been  elbowed  and  jostled,  whirled 
about,  hurtj  and  maltreated  by  the  thronging 
nations. 

Suppose,  however,  the  Jews  were,  to-day, 
in  their  own  land ;  suppose  they  had  an  up-to- 
date  army  of  five  hundred  thousand  perfectly 

equipped  men,  and  a  navy  of  Dreadnaughts 
to  match,  an  exchequer  full  of  convertible 
values ;  let  it  be  supposed  that  Jerusalem  was 


THE    ZIONIST    MOVEMENT  44 1 

(as  it  well  may  be)  a  great  railway  and  com- 
mercial center,  and  that  in  it  was  the  concen- 
trated wealth  of  modern  Jewry,  and  all  the 
Gentile  wealth  that  is  dependent  upon  it,  does 
any  one  imagine  for  a  moment  that  the  na- 
tions of  the  Gentiles  would  turn  upon,  despise 
or  maltreat  them  ?  Would  not  a  Jew,  a  single 
Jew,  win,  nationally  speaking,  the  same  re- 
spect and  attention  as  an  Englishman,  a  Ger- 
man, or  an  American?  Would  not  the  con- 
sciousness that  behind  the  individual  Jew  there 
was  a  vital  and  fully  equipped  nationality  give 
emphasis  to  the  individual  expression  of  it? 

This  is  the  Jew's  need  of  the  hour. 

He  needs  to  go  back  to  his  own  land,  go 
there  in  national  capacity,  and  take  his  place 
amid  the  political  and  commercial  powers  of 
the  earth.  Not  till  the  Jewish  nation  is  such, 
not  till  there  is  a  Jewish  national  resurrection, 
and  the  Jewish  nation  once  more  possesses 
the  land  sworn  to  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob, 
will  the  Jew  be  able  to  lift  up  his  head  and 
walk  in  the  ordained  power  that  is  his. 

God  has  declared  that  this  need  shall  be 
met. 

He  has  declared  that  the  Jews  shall  go  back 
to  their  own  land — that  Israel  shall  be  restored 
to  Palestine.  The  promises  of  this  restoration 
form  almost  the  staple  of  the  prophetic  utter- 
ances. The  Word  of  God  is  crowded  with 
them.  In  every  form  of  statement,  typical, 
figurative,  poetic,  symbolic,  open  and  didactic, 


442  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

does  the  living  God  proclaim,  by  sworn  oath, 
by  solemn  pledge,  upon  the  stake  of  his  own 
integrity,  that  his  people  shall  yet  dwell  in 
the  land  of  their  inheritance.  To  transcribe 
these  promises  would  be  almost  to  fill  a  book. 
They  are  there.  So  great  is  God's  determina- 
tion to  restore  them  that  he  says  he  will  do 
it  with  "his  whole  heart."  He  declares  that 
they  are  written  upon  the  palms  of  his  hands, 
and  that  he  cannot  forget  them.  He  assures 
them  that  he  will  bring  them  back,  plant  them 
in  their  own  land,  and  never  allow  them  any 
more  to  be  plucked  out  of  it  forever.  So  in- 
terested is  he  in  this  stupendous  event  that  he 
gives  the  prophet  Ezekiel  a  vision  of  a  valley 
full  of  dry  bones.  He  assures  the  prophet 
that  these  bones  shall  live ;  dry  and  seemingly 
withered  as  they  are,  he  assures  him  that  they 
shall  live.  He  bids  him  to  prophecy  upon 
these  bones  and  assure  them  that  the  Lord 
God  will  cause  breath  to  enter  into  them  and 
that  they  shall  live.  God  says  he  will  lay 
sinews  upon  these  bones  and  bring  flesh  upon 
them ;  he  will  cover  them  with  skin  and  put 
breath  in  them,  and  they  shall  live. 

The  prophet  does  as  he  is  commanded  of 
the  Lord,  and,  as  he  prophesies,  hears  a  great 
noise,  there  is  a  great  shaking,  bones  come 
together,  bone  to  his  bone.  The  Lord  then 
commands  the  prophet  to  speak  to  the  wind, 
bidding  ^reath  to  come  from  the  four  winds 
and  breathe  upon  the  slain.    The  prophet  again 


THE    ZIONIST   MOVEMENT  443 

obeys,  breath  comes  into  them,  they  live  and 
stand  upon  their  feet,  an  exceeding  great 
army. 

The  Lord  explains  this  vision  to  Ezekiel. 

He  says: 

"These  bones  are  the  whole  house  of  Israel : 
behold  they  say,  Our  bones  are  dried,  and  our 
hope  is  lost;  we  are  cut  off  for  our  parts. 

Therefore  prophesy,  and  say  unto  them. 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Behold,  O  my  peo- 
ple, I  will  open  your  graves  [the  nations  and 
countries  where  they  are  nationally  buried] 
and  cause  you  to  come  up  out  of  your  graves, 
and  bring  you  into  the  land  of  Israel. 

And  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord  when 
I  have  opened  your  graves,  O  my  people,  and 
brought  you  up  out  of  your  graves, 

And  shall  put  my  Spirit  in  you,  and  ye  shall 
live ;  and  I  shall  place  you  in  your  own  land ; 
then  shall  ye  know  that  I  the  Lord  have 
spoken  it,  saith  the  Lord. 

The  word  of  the  Lord  again  came  unto  me, 
saying, 

Moreover,  thou  son  of  man,  take  thee  one 
stick,  and  write  upon  it,  for  Judah,  and  for 
the  children  of  Israel  his  companions :  then 
take  another  stick,  and  write  upon  it,  for  Jo- 
seph, the  stick  of  Ephraim,  and  for  all  the 
house  of  Israel  and  his  companions : 

And  join  them  one  to  another  into  one  stick; 
and  they  shall  become  one  in  thine  hand. 

And  when  the  children  of  thy  people  shall 


444  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE   TIMES 

speak  unto  thee,  saying,  Wilt  thou  not  shew 
us  what  thou  meanest  by  these? 

Say  unto  them,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God, 
Behold,  I  will  take  the  stick  of  Joseph,  which 
is  in  the  hand  of  Ephraim,  and  the  tribes  of 
Israel  his  fellows,  and  will  put  them  with  him, 
even  with  the  stick  of  Judah,  and  make  them 
one  stick,  and  they  shall  be  one  in  mine  hand. 

And  the  sticks  whereon  thou  writest  shall 
be  in  thine  hand  before  their  eyes. 

And  say  unto  them,  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God,  Behold,  I  will  take  the  children  of  Israel 
from  among  the  heathen  [the  Gentile  nations] 
whither  they  be  gone,  and  will  gather  them 
on  every  side,  and  bring  them  into  their  own 
land: 

And  I  will  make  them  one  nation  in  the 
land  upon  the  mountains  of  Israel ;  and  one 
king  shall  be  king  to  them  all ;  and  they  shall 
be  no  more  two  nations,  neither  shall  they  be 
divided  into  two  kingdoms,  any  more  at  all." — 
Ezekiel  Z7 :  1-22. 

He  has  given  signs  of  the  coming  restora- 
tion. 

He  uses  the  symbol  of  a  fig  tree. 

He  says,  (and  it  is  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
who  speaks)  : 

"Now  learn  a  parable  from  the  fig  tree; 
when  his  branch  is  yet  tender,  and  putteth 
forth  leaves,  ye  know  that  summer  is  nigh." — 
Matthew  24 :  32. 

The  fig  tree  is,  of  course,  the  Jewish  Nation. 


THE   ZIONIST    MOVEMENT  445 

There  is  a  time  to  come,  according  to  this 
parable,  when  the  Jewish  nation  shall  begin, 
like  the  tender  branch  of  the  fig  tree,  to  show 
signs  of  life  and  vitality.  .  It  will  begin  to 
put  forth  leaves.  There  will  be  a  marked 
indication  that  the  winter  of  death  and  desola- 
tion is  passed  forever;  that  the  summer  time 
of  life,  of  fruit  and  harvest,  is  at  hand. 

This  renewal  of  life,  and  this  universal  man- 
ifestation of  national  vigor,  are  in  evidence 
every  day. 

In  our  great  commercial  cities  the  Jews  are 
the  leading  business  factors.  If  you  will  pass 
down  New  York's  great  street  of  Broadway 
you  shall  find  that  two-thirds  of  the  names 
upon  the  signs  are  Jewish  names.  One  out 
of  every  four  persons  on  Manhattan  Island 
is  a  Jew — and  is  there  because,  in  one  way  or 
another,  related  to  business.  If  you  call  over 
the  list  of  bankers  in  the  world  at  large,  you 
will  find  that  the  large  majority  of  them  are 
Jews.  The  leading  musicians  of  the  world 
have  been,  and  to-day  are,  Jews.  They  are 
leaders  in  science  and  philosophy.  They  are 
historians,  romancers,  poets  and  tragedians. 
The  two  greatest  women  tragedians  the  world 
has  ever  known  were  Jewesses.  They  have 
been  generals  and  statesmen.  Napoleon's 
great  marshal,  Massena,  the  "child  of  vic- 
tory," was  a  Jew.  England's  prime  minister, 
the  man  who  at  Berlin  gave  her  "peace  with 
honor."  was  a  Jew.    His  very  name  is  a  token: 


446  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

Benjamin  D'Israeli — Benjamin  of  Israel.  If 
to-day  you  were  to  call  over  the  representative 
names  in  all  departments  of  human  genius  and 
industry,  you  would  find  that  a  vast  number 
of  them  are  the  names  of  Jews.  The  Jew  is 
coming  to  the  front  along  all  the  masterful 
lines  of  life.  He  has  a  polyglot  tongue.  If 
you  seek  the  man  who  speaks  in  many  lan- 
guages besides  his  own,  you  will  find  him  in 
a  Jew.  He  is  entering  into  the  political  as 
well  as  the  business  arena.  Alfred  Dreyfus, 
a  Jew,  a  soldier  in  the  French  army,  was  un- 
justly condemned  by  the  French  government. 
The  Jews  of  the  world  got  together,  put  their 
hands  upon  the  assets  of  France,  entered  into 
the  legislative  halls  and  said:  "Bring  that 
man  back  from  Devil's  Island,  give  him  a  new 
trial,  declare  him  innocent,  reinstate  and  honor 
him."  France  heard  the  demand  and  did  as 
she  was  bidden,  even  at  the  peril  of  a  revolu- 
tion and  a  divided  country. 

The  Jew  did  that,  the  Jew  of  the  twentieth 
century. 

He  has  an  almost  insane  thirst  for  knowl- 
edge. 

The  night  schools  in  the  great  cities  are 
filled  with  Jews.  Some  of  our  great  universi- 
ties are  crowded  with  them.  The  first  Rhodes' 
scholarship  was  captured  by  a  Jew.  They 
seek  knowledge  because  it  is  the  high  road 
to  power.  Obeying  a  mighty  impulse  they 
do  not  understand,  they  are  seeking  for  power, 


THE   ZIONIST   MOVEMENT  447 

and  seeking  it  in  every  direction.  There  is 
a  mysterious,  unseen  impetus  that  drives  them 
on. 

The  vitality  of  the  Jew  is  phenomenal. 

Any  other  people,  enduring  what  they  have 
endured,  would  have  been  wiped  off  the  face 
of  the  earth.  Persecution  only  seems  to  in- 
tensify their  stamina. 

They  are,  as  already  stated,  numbered  by 
millions. 

Their  health  is  a  marvel.  They  are  able  to 
exist  under  all  conditions.  They  are  the  best 
insurance  risk  among  the  nations.  The  men 
are  extraordinarily  vigorous,  the  women  are 
wondrously  fruitful,  the  children  abundant. 

The  Jewish  nation,  like  the  fig  tree,  is  put- 
ting forth  its  leaves ;  it  is  getting  ready  to  bud, 
to  blossom  and  fill  the  face  of  the  world  with 
fruit. 

The  summer,  surely,  is  nigh. 

There  is  another  sign  of  restoration,  and 
that  is: 

The  physical  condition  of  Palestine. 

The  people  would  not  honor  the  Lord's  Sab- 
baths, nor  walk  in  his  statutes.  For  this,  he 
said  he  would  cast  them  forth  to  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth;  and  while  they  wandered 
amid  all  nations,  the  people  of  the  trembling 
heart  and  the  restless  foot,  the  land  should 
keep  her  Sabbaths. 

For  centuries  the  soil  has  been  uncultivated. 

The  vine  and  the  olive  have  cast  their  fruit. 


448  THE   SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

flung  down  their   foliage,   and  fertilized  the 
soil. 

Wild  flowers  and  grasses  have  clothed  the 
barren  rocks;  the  desert  has  blossomed  as  the 
rose. 

The  very  dust  has  been  quickened  by  the 
mould  of  ages. 

Armies  have  fought  upon  its  plains  and  the 
blood  of  man  and  beast  bursts  forth  in  the 
beauty  of  its  scarlet  poppies.  For  twenty 
centuries  it  has  been  lying  a  virgin  earth  under 
the  fierce  caress  of  an  ardent  sun  and  the  breath 
of  Orient  winds.  The  grapes  hang  purple 
in  the  western  light,  the  olives  grow  dusky 
green  in  the  slant  of  the  sun ;  apricot,  pome- 
granate and  orange  give  forth  their  blossoms 
to  the  wooing  air,  harvests  lie  golden  under 
the  noontide  haze.  In  every  fold  of  its  mys- 
terious mountains,  the  snow-hooded  heights 
of  Hermon  and  the  darkling  blue  of  Tabor; 
in  every  crease  of  its  lonely  valleys,  pool-filled 
Baca  and  smoke-laden  Tophet;  in  every  bed 
of  its  deepening  streams,  by  the  shores  of  blue 
Galilee  and  Jordan's  banks,  in  rock  and  river, 
where  the  dead  lie  buried  and  the  living  toil 
and  die,  the  land,  full  of  wonder  and  the 
witchery  of  buried  ages,  where  the  ghosts  of 
old  days  and  the  footsteps  of  prophet,  priest 
and  king  go  by  together;  the  land  where  the 
rose  of  Sharon  and  the  lily  of  the  valley  still 
bloom,  where  Bethlehem's  roofs  still  shine 
white  as  in  the  days  of  the  Incarnation,  where 


THE    ZIONIST    MOVEMENT  449 

Calvary  still  remains  the  place  of  the  skull, 
where  the  shadow  of  the  cross  seems  to  grow 
crimson  in  the  dying  of  the  day,  there,  where 
the  feet  of  the  infinite  Son  of  God  walked  in 
their  weariness,  and  his  voice  was  heard  as 
never  man  spake  before,  or  since,  in  that  land 
of  lands,  everything  is  waiting,  palpitating, 
and  ready  to  respond,  with  beating  breast  of 
fruitfulness,  to  the  husbandman's  touch  and 
toil,  to  the  worshipper's  bended  knee  and  as- 
cending prayer. 

There  is  another  sign,  and  this,  too,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  land. 

That  sign  is  the  latter  rain. 

The  Lord  promised  that  when  his  people 
should  turn  their  faces  thitherward  the  latter 
rain  so  long  withheld  should  be  given  them 
again. 

The  latter  rain  has  commenced  to  fall. 

Heaven  is  pouring  sunshine,  dew,  and  this 
precious  rain,  upon  the  awakening  land.  God 
is  preparing  it  for  the  harvest  home  of  those 
who  shall  return. 

In  that  land  are  great  stone  cities. 

These  cities  are  in  a  state  of  wondrous 
preservation — a  touch  here  and  there,  and  the 
houses  would  be  habitable. 

For  two  thousand  years  they  have  been 
empty,  save  for  the  wild  beast  and  the  night 
bird  that  would  make  her  nest  there. 

Silence  and  desolation  have  been  the  senti- 
nels. 


450  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

The  cities  have  been  waiting  for  their  in- 
habitants. 

The  houses  are  ready  to  resound  to  the 
voices  of  men  and  women,  to  the  songs  of 
bride  and  bridegroom,  and  the  laughter  of 
children. 

The  streets,  with  here  and  there  a  gleam  of 
paving  stone,  look  up  through  moss  and  lichen, 
ready  to  welcome  the  rhythmic  tread  of  the 
hurrying  multitude. 

The  Word  of  God  declares  that  before  the 
final  and  distinctive  restoration,  great  num- 
bers of  the  Jews  will  return,  go  back  as  colo- 
nists, as  speculators,  and  that  land  shall  be 
bought  and  sold  at  the  gates  of  Jerusalem. 

That  prophecy  is  being  fulfilled  to-day. 

There  are  more  Jews  in  Palestine  than  at 
any  time  since  our  Lord  was  crucified.  Land 
is  being  bought  and  sold  on  speculation  at  the 
very  doors  of  the  city.  Colonists  have  taken 
up  land  in  the  old,  historic  places,  and  are 
farming,  by  means  of  modern  machinery,  with 
satisfying  success. 

The  climacteric  sign  of  the  restoration  is 
with  us  to-day. 

That  sign  is  the  organized  movement  known 
as — Zionism. 

Zionism  is  a  movement  on  the  part  of  the 
Jews  throughout  the  world  to  go  back  to  Pal- 
estine and  reconstitute  themselves  as  a  nation, 
rebuilding  Jerusalem,  erecting  the  temple,  and 
restoring:  the  faith  of  thQ  fathers.    The  move- 


THE   ZIONIST   MOVEMENT  45) 

ment  is  no  longer  detached,  or  merely  senti- 
mental. It  is  organized,  corporate  and  univer- 
sal. Branches,  committees  and  headquarters 
are  established  all  over  the  earth.  It  has  its 
literature  and  an  oral  advocacy.  Men  are 
vi^riting  and  speaking  in  its  behalf.  Children 
are  taught  to  repeat  the  word  Zion  as  never 
before,  and  to  set  their  faces  thitherward. 
Moneys  are  raised,  colonies  are  sent  out,  es- 
tablished and  sustained.  Multitudes  of  Jews 
among  all  nations,  peoples,  kindreds  and 
tongues,  are  mentally  asking  their  way  to  Zion 
and  are  setting  their  faces  "thitherward." 

It  is  a  movement  that  can  neither  be  denied 
nor  ignored. 

It  is  making  itself  known  with  increasing 
volume  of  assertion  and  assurance. 

Blind,  utterly  blind,  even  to  the  word  of 
the  prophets,  blind  to  the  full  meaning  of  the 
movement  itself,  impulsed  by  natural  and 
selfish  motives,  whether  national  or  individual, 
.  there  are  thousands  of  Jews  to-day  who,  in 
attitude  if  not  in  actual  fact,  are  homeward 
bound,  and  are  repeating  softly  to  themselves 
the  magic  word,  "Zion." 

The  recent  revolution  in  Turkey  has  accel- 
erated the  movement.  The  ban  upon  the  Jew 
has  been  removed.  He  is  now  invited  to  be- 
come a  citizen.  The  doors  of  the  Turkish 
Parliament  stand  open,  the  day  of  Jewish  citi- 
zenship in  their  own  land  is  made  possible. 
Already,  representative  and  wealthy  Jews  may 


452  THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES 

be  found  standing  in  the  shadow  of  the  Sub- 
lime Porte.  Jewish  synagogues  are  planned 
for  the  hill  of  Zion.  By  day  and  by  night  there 
are  here  and  there  devout  Jews  who  are  study- 
ing the  plans  of  the  temple  laid  down  by  the 
prophet  Ezekiel,  plans  so  wonderful  that  Sir 
Inigo  Jones,  the  great  English  architect,  has 
said  that  if  the  temple  were  really  built  along 
its  lines  it  would,  indeed,  fill  the  whole  earth 
with  its  glory — putting  to  shame  the  half- 
remembered  splendors  of  ancient  times. 

Zion  and  Zionism  are  in  the  air. 

All  these  things  are  verifications  of  the 
Word  of  God.  Every  accent  is  a  witness  that 
God  speaketh  the  truth  and  that  his  Word  is 
settled  in  heaven  forever. 

But  this  Zionist  movement  is  a  witness  that 
the  Coming  of  the  Lord  to  rule  and  reign  as 
king  is  not  far  away.  Holy  Scripture  teaches 
in  plain  and  unmistakable  language  that  the 
Jews  are  to  return  to  their  own  land,  as  many 
are  doing  now,  in  a  state  of  unbelief  and  athe- 
istic godlessness.  The  scriptures  testify  that 
the  nations  of  Europe,  and  some  in  Asia,  will 
be  unified  under  a  great  and  final  head,  known 
in  Holy  Writ  as  the  Antichrist,  the  Man  of 
sin  and  the  Beast,  but  hailed  in  the  political 
world  as  the  Coming  Man,  the  arbiter  of  na- 
tions, the  maker  and  keeper  of  peace,  the 
world's  accepted  king  of  kings  and  prince  of 
peace.  The  scriptures  teach  that  this  man  will 
6e  the  prime  factor  in  bringing  the  Jews  back. 


THE    ZIONIST   MOVEMENT  453 

as  a  body,  into  their  own  land;  that  he  will 
be  the  power  that  shall  make  Zionism  a  suc- 
cess; that  through  him  the  nationalism  of  the 
Jews  shall  be  accomplished.  He  will  make 
treaties  with  them,  sustain  them,  be  to  them 
as  though  he  were  the  very  Messiah,  the 
Christ,  receiving  from  them  support  and  ac- 
clamation. At  the  last  he  shall  trample  all 
his  treaties  with  them  under  foot,  rob  them, 
spoil  them,  and  put  them  into  a  furnace  blast 
of  persecution  unparalleled  by  anything  that 
has  gone  before ;  a  time  of  tribulation,  a  tribu- 
lation which  our  Lord  defines  as  "the  tribula- 
tion, the  great  one,"  and  concerning  which  he 
says,  the  like  of  it  has  never  been  before,  nor 
ever  can  be  again ;  a  stress  and  durance  spoken 
of  by  Jeremiah  specifically  as  the  time  of 
"Jacob's  Trouble";  a  sorrow  and  horror,  and 
down  sweep  of  pain  and  tragedy  so  great  that, 
unless  the  Lord,  we  are  told,  should  shorten 
the  trial,  no  flesh  could  live,  actually  could 
exist. 

This  man,  the  world's  great  Coming  Man, 
the  pre-eminent  persecutor  of  the  Jews,  will 
fill  Jerusalem  with  anguish,  enthrone  himself 
on  the  necks  of  the  Jews,  direct  his  hatred  and 
wickedness  with  unlimited  vengeance,  particu- 
larly against  the  remnant  of  Jews  who  shall, 
under  the  faithful  preaching  of  divinely  sent 
messengers,  turn  their  faces  towards  the  true 
Messiah  of  Israel,  and  beseech  him  to  appear 
unto  them.    It  is  in  the  midst  of  this  woe,  and 


454  THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES 

in  answer  to  the  despairing  cry  of  the  rem- 
nant, that  the  Lord  will  descend  from  heaven 
in  the  panoply  of  his  power  and  glory;  then 
it  is  that  repentant  and  sore-smitten  Judah 
shall  turn  to  him  and  own  their  crucified  Lord 
at  last. 

This  Zionistic  movement,  its  antecedents 
and  accessories,  are  clear  evidence  that  the 
time  of  Jacob's  sorrow  and  the  hour  of  the 
Lord's  appearing  are  drawing  nigh. 

But  the  Zionist  movement  is,  in  itself,  the 
quickening  and  warning  sign  of  a  more  im- 
mediate event. 

It  is  a  sign  that  the  secret  rapture  of  the 
■church  is,  indeed,  imminent.  Scripture 
teaches,  and  teaches  it  in  figure,  in  type,  in 
symbol,  parable,  and  open  statement,  that  be- 
fore the  Lord  appears  in  glory  to  end  Gentile 
rule,  and  bring  in  the  rule  of  Israel  according 
to  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  he  will  come  se- 
cretly, without  warning,  into  the  air  (He  will 
come  into  the  air  and  halt  there,  before  he 
comes  down  to  the  Mount  of  Olives),  and  with 
a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and 
the  trump  of  God,  snatch  his  church  (the 
dead  raised,  the  living  changed)  out  of  the 
world,  and  from  the  way  of  the  coming  woe, 
and  gather  her  to  himself  as  the  bridegroom 
receives  his  long  awaited  bride. 

By  so  much,  then,  as  the  Zionist  movement 
is  a  climacteric  sign  and  witness  in  these  times 
that  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand,  by  mst 


THE   ZIONIST   MOVEMENT  455 

SO  much  it  is  a  witness  that  "at  any  moment" 
the  "door  in  heaven"  may  be  opened,  the  Lord 
may  speak,  and  all  those  who  own  his  name 
be  bidden  to  rise  and  meet  him,  see  him  face 
to  face,  and  share  his  glory. 

This  is  the  deeper  meaning  of  Zionism. 

Every  footstep  Zionward,  every  face  set 
"thitherward."  every  accent  and  song  that  re- 
peats the  name  of  Zion,  should  be  a  warning 
and  an  exhortation  to  the  church,  to  the  indi- 
vidual Christian,  to  watch,  to  wait  and,  with 
uplifted  foot  on  the  threshold  of  any  circum- 
stance, be  ready,  as  though  the  Master  had 
already  said,  "Come  up  hither." 

"For  ye  know  neither  the  day  nor  the  hour 
wherein  the  Son  of  man  cometh." — Matthew 
25:13. 


Four  Timely  Messages 

By  I.  M.  HALDEMAN,  D.  D. 

THE  PRINCE  OF  PEACE 

"This  Hour  not  the  Hour  of  the  Prince  of  Peace;  and  this  age, 
not  the  age  in  which  the  Church  is  to  establish  earth-wide,  national 
peace  but  soul  peace,  individual  peace,  peace  of  the  soul  with 
God."  A  sermon  on  Isaiah  9:6,  7,  preached  before  the  New  York 
State  Committee,  October  27,  1915. 

56  pages.     Price  25  cents  per  copy. 

THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE 
WORLD 

"The  Church  is  not  here  to  mal<e  the  world  better.  On  the 
contrary,  the  Church  is  here  to  testify  the  world  cannot  be  made 
better;  that  so  far  from  being  better  it  will  go  from  bad  to  worse. 
By  'better'  In  the  Scripture  sense  of  the  word,  is  meant  better 
In  spiritual  things,  more  taken  ur'  with  the  things  of  God,  more 
Godly,  more  governed  and  ruled  by  the  Spirit  of  God  and  Christ." 

64  pages,  price  25  cents  per  copy. 

MORALITY  OR  IMMORTALITY? 

"Did  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  come  into  the  world  to  make  men 
moral  or  immortal?  I  affirm  the  average  Christian  is  in  the  dark 
as  to  the  whole  truth  of  God  and  that  the  great  mass  of  mankind 
today  is  on  the  edge  of  imminent  peril  by  reason  of  the  false 
preaching  that  morality  is  Christianity,  or  that  the  supreme  ob- 
jective of  Christianity  is  an  ethical  or  moral  life." 

79  pages.     Price  35  cents  per  copy. 

THE  OLIVE  TREE 

"Cutting  off  the  Branch  of  the  Wild  Olive  Tree  and  Grafting 
in  again  the  Branches  of  the  Good  Olive  Tree,  or  the  Setting  Aside 
of  the  Professing  Church  and  the  Bringing  in  again  of  Israel." 
"The  Good  Olive  Tree  is  the  Nation  of  Israel."  "The  Wild  Olive 
Tree   Is  a   symbol  of  the  Gentile  Nations." 

78  r-ages.     Price  35  cents  per  copy. 

THESE  FOUR  PAMPHLETS 

together  constitute  a  most  important  and  well-rounded  teaching 
of  the  person  and  work  of  Christ,  the  mission  and  future  of  the 
Church,  and  the  mission  and  future  of  Israel — the  two  great 
witnesses  for  God  to  mankind.     They  should  be  studied  together. 


BOOK  DEPARTMENT 

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1721-23  Spring  Garden  Street 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Catalogue  of  Dr.  Haldeman's  writings  on  request 


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